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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Natalie Portman Takes Aleph To Synagogue
Natalie Portman fans are wondering about her trip on Sunday to a synagogue in Santa Monica, California together with Benjamin Millepied and their infant son Aleph. Did the visit have something to do with the wedding bands the couple were spotted wearing as they walked the red carpet before the Academy Awards ceremony? The Daily…
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Shimon Peres Heads To Facebook HQ
Israeli President Shimon Peres may be 88 years old, but when it comes to harnessing the power of social media, he is right up there with the best — and youngest — of them. AbbaNibi newswire reports that on Tuesday, Peres will be visiting Facebook headquarters in Silicon Valley to launch an international Facebook page….
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Q&A: Comics Writer Danny Fingeroth
At Marvel Comics, where he spent years as a group editor on “Spider-Man,” Danny Fingeroth worked closely with the costumed character’s conceptual father — the legendary Stan Lee. Fingeroth, now senior vice president of education at New York’s Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art,. Fingeroth, now senior vice president of education at New York’s Museum…
The Latest
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Monday Music: Rap for Rabbis
A lot of my favorite music could be described as religious hip-hop. It probably has to do with my obsession with the Dirty South, even though all of that music is Christian. Take “True Hero Under God” by Z-Ro, which includes lines like “But I am just a man, trying to Satan free / Through…
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Final Strokes of the Brush
Crossposted from Haaretz A Beethoven symphony plays in the background as light rain falls. Artist Ruth Schloss, wrapped in a blanket, reclines in a lounge chair. Now at the age of 90, she drifts in and out of sleep during the course of the day. She is living her life in the present continuous with…
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Out and About
British historian Sir Martin Gilbert has won the $1 million Dan David Prize. The New York Oberserver was at HEEB’s 10th anniversary party. On the Yiddish Song of the Week blog, Itzik Gottesman writes about recording the Yiddish poet I. Berkovitch in Romania. Etgar Keret has a new short story, “Suddenly There’s a Knock on…
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Books Author Blog: Finding My Religion
Earlier this week, Michelle Haimoff discussed her unlikely in-laws and having immigrant parents, baby boomers, and parental expectations. Her blog posts are being featured this week 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 went to a…
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Israeli Bill to Protect Authors
Crossposted from Haaretz The Culture and Sports Ministry published details on Wednesday of a proposed Knesset bill designed to protect the interests of authors. If passed into law, the bill would bar retailers from discounting new books for the first 18 months after they are published, and provide authors an 8 percent royalty on the…
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Books The Many Sides of Walther Rathenau
Walther Rathenau: Weimar’s Fallen Statesman By Shulamit Volkov Yale University Press, 256 pages, $25.00 The German Jewish community of the late 19th century found itself in a curious situation. On the one hand, German unification in 1871 weakened opposition to Jewish emancipation, and Jews demonstrated their willingness to integrate into German society and culture. At…
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Bar Refaeli Gets Tough With Phone Company
Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli had her day in court today. This morning she testified in an Israeli court against Sunny, the company owned by Ilan Ben Dov that imports Samsung phones to the country. The case stems from a complaint Refaeli filed against the importer in March 2009, claiming that it used unedited video footage…
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Oscar Winning Composer Inspired by Silent Film
Crossposted from Haaretz Three days before he won an Oscar for the soundtrack he composed for the movie “The Artist,” Ludovic Bource sat in his studio in Paris and adapted one of the film’s songs for the accordion — the first instrument he played as a child. Speaking before the Oscar ceremony last Sunday, the…
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