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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David Rakoff’s ‘Talmudic Shrug’
On the “This American Life” website, Ira Glass wrote a short but heartfelt blog post about David Rakoff, who died last week. He also posted a couple of favorite videos, including one featuring Rakoff at the show’s cinema event last May. In what would be Rakoff’s last performance onstage, he addressed his illness, life without…
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Joe Kubert, Comic Book Legend, Dies at 85
Iconic comic book artist and writer Joe Kubert spent most of his life drawing brawny super heroes, lionhearted jungle men and rampaging dinosaurs. But at age 75, Kubert began a journey back to his roots that led him to illustrate Warsaw Ghetto fighters, Holocaust survivors, and ethical mini-lessons for the Chabad-Lubavitch hasidic movement. Kubert, who…
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‘Kosher’ Swimwear On the Rise
Just when it seemed that bathing suits couldn’t get much smaller, modesty struck back — and now it seems like the old-fashioned, leave-something-to-the-imagination look has become the new itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny bikini. Thanks to a stream of new buyers, many of them searching for more coverage than the average swimsuit can provide, fashion-forward conservative suits are…
The Latest
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Jerry Seinfeld’s New Show About Nothing
Jerry Seinfeld, a famous comedian, used to be the star of “Seinfeld,” a sitcom about a comedian named Jerry Seinfeld and his friends. Larry David, a less-famous comedian, was a writer and co-creator of “Seinfeld,” and now stars as Larry David in “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” a show about the daily life of Larry David, co-creator…
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Books Author Blog: Hunting Family Ghosts
Doreen Carvajal’s first book, “The Forgetting River,” is about her search to recover her Catholic family’s hidden Sephardic Jewish roots in a mystical white pueblo on Spain’s southern frontier in Andalusia. 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…
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Classical Pianist Goes Wild
Two enthralling recordings that pair keyboard music from centuries past with contemporary works have been released this year. The first is Jeremy Denk’s “Ligeti/Beethoven” (Nonesuch), which bookends Beethoven’s otherworldly Sonata Opus 111 with György Ligeti’s astringent and electrifying études. The other is “Baroque Conversations” (Sony Classical) by the Jerusalem-born pianist and conductor “David Greilsammer,” who…
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Go For a Hike: Israel Trail Named Top ‘Epic’ Hike
The Israel National Trail was named one of the World’s Best Hikes by National Geographic magazine. The trail, which extends up to 620 miles from southern to northern Israel, was named one of the 20 top hikes in the Epic Trails section. It is joined on the list by such trails as the International Appalachian…
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Spinoza Para Bobos (Spinoza For Dummies)
Baruch Spinoza was born in Amsterdam in 1632, the son of Portuguese Marranos (or conversos, or crypto-Jews) who had fled the Inquisition. A prodigy at Amsterdam’s Etz Chaim Yeshiva, he was widely expected to become a rabbi. As rumors of his heretical ideas spread, he was denounced by his yeshiva teachers, and in 1656 he…
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Patrick Stewart Shoots Film in Israel
British actor Patrick Stewart arrived in Israel to appear in a film by Israeli director Reshef Levi. Stewart, a Shakespearean actor known for his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” arrived in Israel on Aug. 9 and will spend about three weeks in the Jewish state. Stewart will play a…
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ADL to Joan Rivers: Costco Isn’t the Nazis
The Anti-Defamation League called out Joan Rivers out on her comparison between Costco and Nazi Germany, three days after the comedian made a public display outside a Los Angeles Costco store. After Costco made the decision not to carry her book, “I Hate Everything…Starting with Me,” Rivers protested a local store by chaining herself to…
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Jewish Mobster To Retire in Luxury
Victims and cops are fuming that a “legendary” Jewish gangster has been sprung from jail after a “surprise” parole decision that will “allow him to live out his final days in a posh gated community in Florida,” the NY Daily News reports. Though 86-year-old “mob hit man” Harold Konigsberg was released in June, news of…
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