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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Denying Robert Faurisson
French anti-Semitism is a recurrent struggle, most recently shown by the Cannes Film Festival’s abrupt cancellation of “The Anti-Semite” — a film starring Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala, a French comic with a history of anti-Semitism. Dealing with another strand of the trait, French historian Valérie Igounet’s useful “The Story of Holocaust Denial in France,” from Les…
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Bar Refaeli Gets Cozy with Shaun White
Looks like Bar Rafaeli doesn’t have that much trouble getting a date after all. Olympic snowboarder Shaun White might have been listening when the Maxim Hot 100 topper complained on Conan that men never approach her. White and Rafaeli were caught canoodling in a SoHo lounge over Memorial Day weekend, according to Fox Sports. White,…
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Tevye Goes West
When remembering the waves of Jewish immigration to early 20th-century America we usually conjure up images of Ellis Island and the Lower East Side. However, thanks to the Galveston Plan, some Eastern European Jews found themselves far from the Statue of Liberty, way down yonder in the land of cotton. Haskell Harelik may have landed…
The Latest
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More on the Chan-Zuckerberg Wedding
Now that the world knows who Priscilla Chan is, she’s being spotted everywhere — including in a Chinese TV documentary on the country’s police force. Oddly enough, a short snippet of footage of Chan and her husband, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has shown up in the program highlighting how Chinese police use hi-tech…
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Books Author Blog: Stumbling Stones
Leslie Maitland is the author of Crossing the Borders of Time: A True Story of War, Exile, and Love Reclaimed. 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: . In 1989 I accompanied…
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Aaron Sorkin Is Dating Another Kristin
We all know that the “Sex and the City” character Charlotte York had a soft spot for Jewish men — or at least for a one named Harry Goldenblatt. Now it seems that Kristin Davis, the actress who played the Carrie Bradshaw pal, has her eye on a particular Jewish guy, too. Life & Style…
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‘Broken Cameras’ Director Sees Hope for Israel
When emailing and skyping with Guy Davidi, the 33-year old Israeli co-director of “5 Broken Cameras,” opening May 30 in New York at the Film Forum, one encounters a sophisticated — albeit imperfect — speaker of English, with a vaguely British accent. His views, however, are always sharp: “My belief is that the construction of…
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Stephan Mendel-Enk, Swedish Jewish Novelist
Though celebrating a Eurovision Song Contest win with their compatriots, Swedish Jews (a minority of around 18,000 people in a country of 9 million) are confronting a grim recent upswing in anti-Semitic violence. At this time of hostility, riding to the rescue is the Swedish Jewish author and journalist Stephan Yigal Mendel-Enk. Born in 1974…
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At 32, Regina Spektor Is Better Than Ever
“Today we’re younger than we ever gonna be,” Regina Spektor sings in the balladic “Small Town Moon,” the first track on “What We Saw From The Cheap Seats,” her sixth solo album. It’s the kind of sappy phrase you might find written on one of those motivational posters that are taped to the walls of…
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Private Pair: Alison Brie and Dave Franco
And now for a Franco family update: Us Weekly reports that “21 Jump Street” star Dave Franco, younger brother of James, is dating Alison Brie. The 29-year-old actress is known for her television roles as Annie Edison on “Community” and Trudy Campbell on “Mad Men.” Sources say that Brie has been seeing Franco, 26, for…
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Books Day Schools and the End of the Melting Pot
Earlier this week, Jonathan Krasner discussed his use of the word “boys” and the magic of summer camp. His 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 met Peter Beinart in 1999 when…
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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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Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
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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.
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Halal restaurant opening in Congress is like ‘Muslim conquest of Jerusalem,’ says GOP congressman
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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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Music Jill Sobule was as much a Jewish icon as a queer one
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