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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Slavery to Freedom in Washington and Baltimore
Kevyn Morrow and Johnny Ramey in Centerstage’s production of The Whipping Man. Photo by Richard Anderson. “The Whipping Man,” a taut Civil War drama about a wounded Jewish confederate soldier and his encounter with the Jewish slaves owned by his father, has been on a nationwide roll since its world premiere in 2006. With more…
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Ex-Hasidim To Tell All on Reality TV
Call it “Jersey Sheitel”. Three former Ultra-Orthodox Jews will star in a reality show about their post-religious lives, according to the New York Post. The subjects of “shunned” will include an aspiring model/actress named Pearlperry Reich — currently embroiled in a divorce and custody battle for her four kids — who told the Post her…
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Hollywood Hunks Get Ripped With Krav Maga
Details has only just now caught on to the popularity of Krav Maga, the famed Israeli approach to self-defense training. The magazine seems to have noticed a critical mass of male celebrities using the program to get in touch for their roles on screen — and in life. “Made in Israel. Imported by Hollywood’s A-List….
The Latest
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Messy Divorce for Film Exec Bob Weinstein
While Harvey Weinstein has had cause to shep nakhes lately, his brother Bob seems to be having nothing but tsoris. Word hit the press on the first day of Passover that movie producer Bob Weinstein’s wife Anne Clancy Weinstein, a former book editor, has filed for divorce and is seeking an order of protection. She…
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Collectible Ten Commandments
Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree Just in time for Pesach comes word of a new batch of holiday-related materials. No, I’m not referring to the New American Haggadah, which seems to have colonized the American Jewish imagination this year, leaving little room for anything else. Instead, I have in mind a recent auction in…
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Scream Queen to Rock Chic
Crossposted from Haaretz “It’s a dynamic performance with a very clear objective: to electrify the audience, to communicate with it through happiness,” says Ruti Navon, regarding her new joint show with Sheri, which brings together blues, rock, punk, hits and Hebrew songs. Today the two will launch “This is the Time for Love,” at the…
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Video: Drake’s ‘Re-Bar Mitzvah’
As part of what he’s calling a “re-commitment to the Jewish religion,” Drake has released a video featuring bagels, the Torah, Manischewitz, Lil Wayne in a panda mask and a whole lot of rapping in the synagogue. Is this guy for real? Watch him reading from the Torah and decide for yourself. WARNING: THE FOLLOWING…
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Books Author Blog: Hava Nagila
Rav Ron Yitzchok Eisenman is the author of “The Elephant in the Room.” 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 was some day — I almost cannot remember the clock moving;…
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Best Celebrity Tweets for Passover
It might not surprise you that celebrities were tweeting pre-, post- and even mid-Seder. Some typed clever quips, while others sent out heartfelt thoughts, including greetings for Easter, which coincides this year with the first days of Passover. Here are some of The Shmooze’s favorite Pesach posts of 140 characters or less: Susan Orlean (on…
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Out and About
Is the ex-Hasidic community about to get it’s own reality show? The founder of the Freelancers Union explains why Moses was the first Union representative in history. Celebrate Pesach, Andy Warhol style. Avi Steinberg gives his take on the New American Haggadah in the Boston Globe. Why the Seder is, or is not, based on…
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Monday Music: Shlomo Carlebach in Poland
A version of this post originally appeared in Yiddish. Filmmaker Menachem Daum, whose 2004 documentary, “Hiding and Seeking,” portrayed his journey to Poland to search for the peasant family that rescued his father-in-law during the Holocaust, has been busy at work on his next project: a film about Shlomo Carlebach’s historic concert tour of Poland…
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