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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Talking Cat Takes Center Stage
What happens when a cat eats a parrot? Obviously, it gains the ability to speak. But what happens when it’s “The Rabbi’s Cat?” Clearly, you get an argumentative feline who takes on all comers, including his master. To add insult to injury, given the current troubles between Israel and Iran, it appears to be a…
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Books Between the Lines and Under the Paint
Earlier this week, Debra Band shared the back story behind “Arise! Arise!” 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: These tales of Deborah, Ruth and Hannah are wonderful stories, full of vivid…
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Kate Middleton Buzz
It seemed that everyone was reacting to the news yesterday that Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is pregnant and hospitalized because of extreme morning sickness. Ivanka Trump tweeted kind wishes for the royal pregnancy, while Zach Braff took a more humorous approach in expressing his congratulations. And while we’re mentioning Ivanka Trump, here’s a…
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Irritated by Koestler, Nauseated by Sartre
The Polish Jewish author Yuli Borisovich Margolin wrote the gulag memoir “Trip to the Land of Ze-kas,” translated into French in 2010. Its title refers to the Soviet secret police term “Ze-Ka” (or Z/K) for doomed prison laborers who were worked to death in the early 1930s. Margolin, a resident of Palestine who was arrested…
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A Hebrew Hammer Holiday Comeback?
For some of us, the holidays generate a nostalgia for Jewxploitation, and we’ve despaired that we’d never see The Hebrew Hammer again. Fortunately, there is some holiday cheer in the news: The Hammer may be back. But it is not yet time to fully rejoice. The Jewish superhero will return, provided that filmmaker Jonathan Kesselman…
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Books So You Want to Dress Up as Santa?
Joshua Eli Plaut, PhD, is the full-time Executive Director of American Friends of Rabin Medical, as well as the Rabbi of the Metropolitan Synagogue in Manhattan. His most recent book, “A Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to be Jewish,” is now available. His blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish…
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Judy Chicago Returns to London
The work of pioneering American feminist artist Judy Chicago is not for the prudish. Her current exhibition at Ben Uri The London Jewish Museum of Art displays graphic imagery of the male and female form alongside pieces addressing the notion of female subjugation and masculine power. Yet nestled next to artworks that can challenge and…
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The New ‘Girls’
Okay, we all know this is what you’ve been waiting for. Here’s the trailer for the new season of Lena Dunham’s “Girls,” which will begin airing January 13. Entertainment Weekly has announced its Entertainers of the Year list. The MOTs on it are hot young stars Lena Dunham, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Max Greenfield (with his…
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Books Author Blog: The Back Story
Debra Band’s most recent book, “Arise! Arise! Deborah, Ruth and Hannah” is now available. Her work in Hebrew illuminated manuscripts draws upon her love of both the manuscript arts, and Jewish tradition and learning. Her blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog…
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A Hasidic Painter and His Mother
The most basic advice given to every would-be author is to write what you know. And Chaim Potok did just that. His best and most popular novels — “The Chosen” and “My Name Is Asher Lev” — are about boys struggling between their ultra-Orthodox upbringing and secular destinies. In “The Chosen,” the protagonist, the son…
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‘Bachelorette’ Does It Under Chuppah
Last season’s TV ‘Bachelorette,’ Ashley Hebert, and a Jewish construction manager from New York, J.P. Rosenbaum, were married in a Jewish wedding ceremony. The couple married under a chupah during an outdoor ceremony on Saturday in Pasadena, Calif., according to reports. ABC will air a two-hour wedding special on Dec. 16. The couple became engaged…
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