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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Friday Film: What Is the UN Good For?
In his documentary, “U.N. Me,” opening in cities around the U.S. today, first-time filmmaker Ami Horowitz takes shots at the United Nations and most of them land squarely on target. Horowitz charges that U.N. brass knew about the potential for genocide in Rwanda — and could have prevented it; that U.N. peacekeeping troops opened fire…
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Mayim Bialik Couldn’t Quite Quit Facebook
Deciding to take a break from Facebook is usually a personal issue — but not in Mayim Bialik’s case. On May 24 the actress declared on her Kveller blog that she was going to stop using social media. But by yesterday, she had already reconsidered and announced that she would be back on Facebook, but…
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CSI Cast Tours Israel
Madonna’s concert in Tel Aviv tonight is requiring a mammoth operation by Israel Police. And it seems that officers also have some pretend cops keeping the country safe too. Purely by coincidence, four TV cops are in Israel today. Detectives Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) and Adam Ross (AJ Buckley) from CSI:NY are touring Israel, together…
The Latest
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Adam Levine Talks Promiscuity
Strippers, supermodels, and lavish parties might not be the first thing you think of when you see Adam Levine, the falsetto-wielding front man of the pop band Maroon 5. But maybe they should be. His juicy profile in “Details,” which ran on the cover this month, reveals a side of Levine that’s far away from…
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Lizzie Doron, Novelist of Tel Aviv’s Bitzaron
Some urban areas can inspire literary careers. Lizzie Doron, born in Tel Aviv in 1953, was raised in that city’s Bitzaron neighborhood, where traumatized Holocaust survivors lived in a “kind of refugee camp,” speaking a macaronic blend of languages in which Yiddish featured prominently. When at age six, Lizzie and her friends were sent to…
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Israeli Group Mocks Soros and Thomas Friedman
Philanthropist George Soros, New Israel Fund President Naomi Chazan and writer Thomas Friedman are the latest targets of the right-wing Israeli satirists who became famous for mocking the Gaza flotilla. Latma, the group that made We Con The World about the flotilla that approached Gaza two years ago today, have set to music their claim…
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Jerusalem Post Ranks 50 Influential Jews
Mazel tov, Benjamin “King Bibi” Netanyahu. You’re officially the most influential Jew in the world, according to the Jerusalem Post’s just-released ranking of the world’s 50 most significant Semites. And good on you, (Jon Stewart #7). The Post thinks you’ve got more juice than Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (#9) and Eric Cantor (#19) —and all…
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A Concerto and Chance Meeting for the Ages
It’s always surprising how often Jews cross borders. But this coincidence was just too good not to be documented. In January I was raving to my friend Beate Sirota Gordon about a performance of the famously gigantic, wild and strange Ferruccio Busoni Piano Concerto I’d just heard for the first time, performed by Leon Botstein…
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Teenage Israeli Actress To Play Virgin Mary
Many Jewish moviegoers will be pleased to know that Mel Gibson has nothing to do with the soon-to-be-produced prequel to “The Passion of the Christ,” and that a young Israeli actress has quite a lot to do with it. Fifteen-year-old Odeya Rush has been cast for the title role in “Mary, Mother of Christ.” The…
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Author Blogs: Borrowed Words
Earlier this week, Leslie Maitland wrote about reconnecting branches of her family separated by the Diaspora of the Nazi years. 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 have always been fascinated…
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English Soccer Team To Visit Auschwitz
In an educational effort to combat the troublesome phenomenon of anti-Semitism and racism in soccer, England’s national football team will visit Auschwitz and other Holocaust-related sites while in Poland next week for the Euro 2012 tournament. According to the Algemeiner, the team will visit Auschwitz some time between its arrival in Poland on June 6…
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Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
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Fast Forward Germany formally classifies far-right AfD party as extremist, in blow to Nazi-linked populist movement
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Fast Forward Trump taps shock jock Sid Rosenberg and a Haredi newspaper publisher for Holocaust Memorial Council
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