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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Books
Author Blog: Bageling
Earlier this week Rav Ron Yitzchok Eisenman wrote about an unexpected Hava Nagila moment and about his disdain for the phrase: “How’s Everything?” 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: Have you…
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Ahmad Tibi and Michael Oren Duke It Out
Ahmad Tibi, one of the liveliest, not to mention most controversial, lawmakers in the Knesset, is squaring up to Israel’s ambassador to the US, Michael Oren. Oren penned a piece in Foreign Policy praising Israel’s democratic nature, in which he wrote: Israel has tolerated acts that would be deemed treasonous in virtually any other democracy….
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Out and About
Brooklyn has a [new Jewish superhero.][1] A synagogue and a church will share space in a historic New York chapel. Joel Schalit writes an open letter to Gunter Grass. The Jewish Journal talks to Frank London of The Klezmatics. Herman Wouk, who will be 97 in May, is coming out with a new novel. [1]:…
The Latest
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Books Six Words Is All it Takes
“Circumcision has been least challenging part.” “God chose. Said no. Now what? “Sunday night? Yes, lobster is kosher.” Millions of words, over thousands of years, have been written about the nature of the Jewish soul. But the most precise distillation of our people’s essence may have finally arrived in fewer characters than a tweet. “Six…
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Dior (Finally) Names Galliano Successor
While John Galliano’s outsize personality helped revive the moribund Christian Dior brand, it also sparked his self-destruction — and firing — after a notorious anti-Semitic rant last year. Today, the conglomerate that owns Dior finally named a successor for a designer many considered irreplaceable. And the brand’s new creative director is reputed to be as…
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Pillow Talk at the Israel Museum
Crossposted from Haaretz When Kobi Ben Meir was working on the Israel Museum’s new “Good Night” exhibition, he constantly had the song “Layla, Layla” playing in his head. In the end, the curator chose to sing the song on camera, in a hesitant voice and with a very embarrassed expression. It’s now part of the…
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Will the SJP Clan Move to Brooklyn?
Brooklyn or Manhattan? That’s the question Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick are mulling over these days. It was reported last month that the couple was considering buying adjacent townhouses on State St. in Brooklyn Heights. Although SJP’s rep told the New York Daily News that the actress does not currently own property…
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Books Author Blog: How’s Everything?
Earlier this week Rav Ron Yitzchok Eisenman wrote about an unexpected Hava Nagila moment. 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: Yesterday a man came to see me for an appointment. As…
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Q&A: Actor Alan Mandell on Samuel Beckett
Actor Alan Mandell has portrayed Shakespeare’s Shylock, Prospero and Lear, and performed everywhere from Dublin’s Abbey Theatre to Broadway to the silver screen. One of his most notable recent roles was Rabbi Marshak in the Coen brothers’ “A Serious Man.” Mandell is currently playing Estragon in “Waiting for Godot” at LA’s Mark Taper Forum. He…
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Bibi’s 5,000 Indonesian Facebook Fans
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no different from the rest of us when it comes to trying to boost our online presence and optimize our social networking reach. You may have heard about his recent efforts to get more people to “like” his official Facebook page, some or which got him into a little…
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Israeli Writers Rebuke Gunter Grass
Crossposted from Haaretz The Hebrew Writers Association in Israel on Monday denounced a controversial poem by Nobel Literature laureate Guenter Grass in which he criticizes Israel for threatening to attack Iran. The writers association said it would ask International PEN, a worldwide body of writers, to “publicly distance itself from Grass’ remarks and to come…
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Most Popular
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Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
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Fast Forward Tucker Carlson calls for stripping citizenship from Americans who served in the Israeli army
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Music ‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history
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Culture She was my Hebrew school bully — and I finally learned what happened to her
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Cuomo blames Mamdani’s young, Jewish and pro-Palestinian voters for his primary loss
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Fast Forward Elon Musk wants your kids to use his chatbot. The same one that praised Hitler.
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Fast Forward Nation’s largest teachers union rejects move to cut ties with ADL
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Culture In this Holocaust story, there are few words, no swastikas, no yellow stars — just movement, passion and empathy
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