The Schmooze lies at the intersection of high and low culture. Here, the latest developments and trends in Jewish art, books, dance, film, music, media, television and theater are all assimilated into one handy pop culture blog.
The Schmooze
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Madonna’s Son Rocco Bar-Mitvahed
Can you picture Madonna and Guy Ritchie dancing the hora? This is what one can only hope happened after their son Rocco was bar-mitzvahed on July 13 at the Kabbalah Center in New York. Madonna celebrated her boy’s transition to manhood by posting a picture on Instagram. “We finish the last letter of the Torah…
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Books Abortion, Birth Control, and Halacha
Earlier this week, Melissa R. Klapper wrote about five American Jewish women you’ve (probably) never heard of. Her blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on the series, please visit: I recently came across a copy of the…
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Gail Simmons Pregnant With First Child
Gail Simmons has one in the oven — and no, it’s not a batch of cookies. “Top Chef” judge Gail Simmons is expecting her first child with husband Jeremy Abrams. The baby is due this winter, Simmons’ rep confirmed to People Magazine. Simmons married Abrams, head of the music programming company Audiostiles in 2008. Their Long…
The Latest
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Will Woody Allen Return to Standup?
Woody Allen is mulling a return to standup comedy. Allen’s latest movie, “Blue Jasmine,” comes out next week (stay tuned for my review), and for the occasion Allen did an interview with The New York Times’s Dave Itzikoff, in which he raised the possibility of making a return to the stage. Several of the actors…
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Books Mourning the Loss of a Non-Jewish Parent
Gayle Redlingshafer Berman is co-author, with her husband, Harold, of “Doublelife: One Family, Two Faiths and a Journey of Hope,” the first true-life account of “an intermarriage gone Jewish.” She is also an internationally acclaimed singer, and has performed and conducted throughout North America, Europe and the Middle East. Her blog posts are featured on…
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The Heroic Brit Who Saved 600 Jewish Children
To the roster of Righteous Gentiles that includes Oskar Schindler and Chiune Sugihara — the Japanese diplomat who in 1940 issued 2039 visas that saved 6000 Jews (including my mother and me) — one must now add Sir Nicholas Winton whose British chutzpah illuminates the Menemsha Film documentary “Nicky’s Family.” Directed by Matej Minac, the…
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Adam Levine Engaged To Victoria’s Secret Model
Well ladies, if you had any dreams of bringing Adam Levine home for Shabbat dinner, you can cast them aside. The Maroon 5 singer and “Voice” judge announced last night that he was engaged to Behati Prinsloo, his third Victoria’s Secret model girlfriend. The couple, who have been dating for a little over a year,…
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Forgotten Hebrew Hunks: Rank Your Top Hotties
On Monday, we ran a story called “Hottest Jewish Men: Who Was Left Out?” in response to Buzzfeed’s recent “Official Ranking Of The 51 Hottest Jewish Men In Hollywood.” In the comments, we asked you to point out some of your favorite Jewish hotties that we may have forgotten. We asked, and you spoke. Now…
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Eliot Spitzer vs. Bill Hader
WATCH Eliot Spitzer confront former “Saturday Night Live” double Bill Hader, right before an incredibly uncomfortable interview with Jay Leno. As The Huffington Post pointed out, Hader used to play Spitzer back when he co-hosted (and then hosted) “Parker/Spitzer” on CNN. Sharing a moment, the two recounted how they first met during a White House…
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A Tisha B’Av Service Unlike Any Other
On the night that Jews around the world mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, here was a Tisha B’Av service unlike any other: Neshama Carlebach singing her father’s mournful, hopeful compositions and Basya Schechter singing her lovely iteration of “Eicha.” The service was dubbed “Shattered Shrines” and was led by Amichai Lau-Lavie, the…
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And on The Ninth Day, They Prayed
Yesterday evening marked the beginning of Tisha B’Av, the annual fast day which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples and the subsequent exile of the Jews from the Holy Land. Regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendars, all pleasurable activities are forbidden. As in a period of mourning, there is…
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