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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Friday Film: Women’s Only Screening in Jerusalem
Director Robin Garbose and the Cast of ‘The Heart that Sings’ at the World Premiere at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles on March 27, 2011. Orthodox director Robin Garbose is at it again. First she made history four years ago with a red carpet premiere of her movie musical “A Light for Greytowers”…
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Paul Ehrlich, a ‘Markedly Jewish’ Humanitarian
Fans of golden age Hollywood biopics will recall the 1940 classic “Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet,” available from Warner Brothers DVDs, a collaboration between the Jewish director William Dieterle, screenwriter Norman Burnstine, and star Edward G. Robinson, (born Emanuel Goldenberg of Romanian-Jewish origin). Ehrlich’s widow Hedwig Pinkus, by then a near-destitute refugee, was a paid consultant….
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Poetics of Holiday Aftermath
One of the most compelling themes, and even triggers, in contemporary Jewish poetic discourse is the question of otherness — our own otherness. There’s no better time to contemplate this idea than during the winter holidays, when cultural differences come into stark relief and questions of identity resurface, as do millennia-old grudges and dilemmas. Ivan…
The Latest
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Jill Zarin Uses Hanukkah Candles in Blackout
Former Real Housewives of New York City star Jill Zarin may have skipped Hebrew school the day they taught that the light of the Hanukkah candles may not be used for anything other than publicizing and enjoying the holiday’s miracle. How does the Shmooze know this? Well, we can’t be totally sure, but the fact…
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‘Musica Ethnit’ Returns to Jerusalem
After a six-year hiatus, the Mediterranean Musical Meeting festival returned to Jerusalem’s picturesque Mishkenot Sha’ananim neighborhood last week, filling the cobblestone streets with the sounds of young Israelis learning Middle Eastern music, or as it is known in Hebrew, musica ethnit. The term has evolved to mean acoustic, traditional Middle Eastern music, or new compositions…
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Man Eats 105 Sufganiyot for Charity
Elie Klein is a guy who really puts his — or rather, other people’s — money where his mouth is. Following a tradition he started last year, Klein, a Yeshiva University graduate and account executive for the Ruder Finn communications agency who lives in Beit Shemesh, ate as many sufganiyot as possible during Hanukkah to…
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Beethoven in Bethlehem
Crossposted from Haaretz “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism” says the sign that currently greets visitors to Bethlehem. It is a bit ironic, given its location next to checkpoints manned by armed soldiers wearing bulletproof vests. How does one deal with such a siege? With a sense of humor:…
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Do Skeletal Remains Belong to Israeli MIAs?
An Israeli farmer found a skeleton dressed in a military uniform and boots in a bunker in a minefield in Israel’s Upper Galilee, near Kibbutz Snir, on Wednesday morning. It is unclear as to whether the remains belong to an Israeli or a Syrian soldier, but it is appears that they date back to one…
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Out and About
An enormous cinema complex is being planned for the port of Tel Aviv. Daniel Retter, an immigration attorney from the Bronx, has written the first index to the Talmud. Music students at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance are working to restore lost Jewish compositions. Apparently, the beardless Matisyahu is still generating controversy thanks…
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Books Q&A: David Shipler on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
It has been 25 years since David K. Shipler published his Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land.” Shipler wrote the book following a five-year stint as Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times. He has also worked for the Times as a reporter in Saigon, Moscow bureau chief…
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Yeshiva Boys Choir Signs Major Record Deal
The Yeshiva Boys Choir has what all the other boy bands have had: the youthful autotuned voices, the slick dance moves, the skillfully produced videos, and the coordinated costumes (though, in this case, the members usually wear dress shirts and black velvet yarmulkes, and many wear glasses and sport peyes). Now it also has something…
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