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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‘Gay Cure’ Idea Offends Day School Students
Sixth formers (high school seniors) at JFS, the oldest and largest Jewish day school in England, are being taught that homosexuality can be cured. At least, that is how some students, parents and community leaders understand the inclusion of information about JONAH — Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (an American organization that maintains that…
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Israel’s Channel 10 Gets New Lease on Life
Crossposted from Haaretz The Channel 10 television station, which had been threatened with closure this month after amassing NIS 60 million in unpaid fees to the government, had its license extended until the end of the year Monday. The council of the Second Television and Radio Authority, which regulates commercial broadcasts in Israel, voted for…
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A Kiddush for Shipwreck Survival
British newlyweds Ian and Janice Donoff sponsored a kiddush last Shabbat at London’s Stanmore Synagogue — but not for one of the usual reasons, like a bar mitzvah, aufruf, baby naming or birthday. Their celebration was to give thanks for surviving the recent Costa Concordia shipwreck off the coast of Italy. As the couple was…
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Allen, Spielberg Pick Up Oscar Nods
The 2012 Oscar nominations, announced this morning by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, included nods for Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, and both Israeli and Polish films. Allen continued his string of recent successes with three nominations for “Midnight in Paris,” which was shortlisted in the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay…
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Family Drama Unnecessarily Absurd
Photo by Jonathan Slaff At least “Open Rehearsal” gives warning. The audience is told point blank in the program that the “acts and scenes occur out of sequence.” It is clear from the moment the lights go down that this will not be a linear theatrical experience. Playwright and director Lazarre Seymour Simckes is no…
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Monday Music: When Jews and Gypsies Play
Photo by Pawel Mazur The Other Europeans’ impressive new live album, “Splendor,” should carry the subtitle “Everything You Wanted To Know About Klezmer and Lautar Music But Were Afraid To Ask.” Would you bet on your ability to differentiate klezmer from so-called “Gypsy” music in a simple drop-the-needle listening test? Before this recording, even those…
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A Bintel Brief: A Bundle of Letters
Liana Finck’s Bintel Brief comic is currently being serialized in the Forward. 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: This is the first page of a comic book I’m…
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Defunct Borscht Belt Hotel May Rise Again
Old Borscht Belt hotels never die…they just get boarded up until a new buyer comes along to save them. At least that’s the story when it comes to the Nevele, which closed its doors in the Catskills back in 2009. The Nevele may indeed have a new lease on life if a sale to the…
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Underwear Ads Irk North London Orthodox
While some Haredim in Jerusalem have succeeded in getting images of women removed from public advertising there, the Orthodox community in North London has had less luck on that front. In London, it is not all women’s images they find offensive, but rather those of Calvin Klein models wearing nothing but their skimpy underwear on…
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Israeli Arab Changing Architecture Conversation
Crossposted from Haaretz The first Arab architect to hold an official post in any architectural organization in Israel wants you to know he’s not out to represent “some God-forsaken family,” or some homogeneous community. “Arab architects in Israel have special problems of our own, and there are also problems and struggles we share with Jewish…
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Radio Legend Larry Josephson Takes the Stage
Larry Josephson’s first foray into the world of performance is titled “An Inconvenient Jew: My Life In Radio.” And the public radio legend promises that tonight’s monologue at the Cornelia Street Cafe in Greenwich Village won’t be his last stab at public performance. When he was dubbed “the original bad boy of morning radio” in…
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