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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Out and About
Dozens of Israeli artists, intellectuals, academics and former military officials are asking Prime Minister Netanyahu to freeze the country’s wave of anti-democratic legislation. NPR’s “On the Media” talks to author Susan Daitch about her novel “Paper Conspiracies” and the Dreyfus Affair. Stanley Kauffmann reviews “Paul Goodman Changed My Life.” (Read The Arty Semite’s review here…
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Friday Film: The Unseen Shoah
Film still courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem On December 6 I attended a screening of “Shoah, the Unseen Interviews,” sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Claude Lanzmann’s 1985 epic is more than nine hours long and features interviews with 70 individuals from 220 hours of footage (no…
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Books Jews, Non-Jews, and Being Losers Together
Earlier this week, Matthue Roth blogged about publishing a real life old-fashioned book and getting up early. His 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: Yesterday, I put out a…
The Latest
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Footage Shows Jews Were Britain’s First Surfers
Four Jewish friends from London’s East End were the first Brits ever to hang ten. A recently discovered, long-forgotten home movie from 1929 showing Lewis Rosenberg, Harry Rochlin and Fred and Ben Elvey standing up on a homemade surf board on the waves of Holywell Bay in Cornwall has been authenticated as the earliest evidence…
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Travel Guide Details Israel as Palestine
It’s the ultimate contentious issue in the Middle East — how to define territory. This week, the Palestinian Authority’s representatives in the UK were disciplined by the country’s advertising watchdog for seemingly wiping Israel off the map. As part of its campaign, it published a map of Israel, in addition to the occupied Palestinian territories…
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Friday Film: All-American David
Film still courtesy of Joel Fendelman Is the small-budget gem “David” a parable for peace in the Middle East? It might — or might not — be. But in either case, it is an engaging, intelligent film that wisely resists the temptation of formulaic, diabetes-inducing sweetness or, conversely, knee-jerk bitterness. “David,” screening December 10 at…
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Bader Ginsburg’s Hubby Was ‘Chef Supreme’
It turns out that while Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was busy writing legal opinions, her late husband Martin Ginsburg was at work cooking up a storm in the kitchen. As a tribute to Mr. Ginsburg, who died in June 2010, the Supreme Court spouses have put together a cookbook titled “Chef Supreme” in…
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YidLit: Admiel Kosman
Sitting down with Israeli poet Admiel Kosman and his translator Lisa Katz (who is a poet in her own right) in the Forward’s podcast studio felt less like a formal interview than a conversation in a dimly lit cafe, extending for hours into the night. And it likely would have extended — if the producer…
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#israelhates on Twitter: Fun or Offensive?
It’s like one of those catchphrase competitions, but for Israel-haters. The new craze on Twitter: #israelhates. According to reports at one point this week the hashtag accounted for 0.15% of all Twitter traffic, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you think about the scale of Twitter’s usage, is quite remarkable. Now, pro-Israelis have…
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Great American Songbook on Display
Wherever we go this time of year, we can’t escape hearing Christmas songs — be they on the radio, sung by carolers, or piped in as Muzak in stores and public spaces. It gets to the point at which it seems there is an audio loop of holiday classics running non-stop in our heads. What…
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Out and About
The Beastie Boys are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tablet features a work-in-progress graphic novel about the roots of hip-hop. GQ features an illustrated account of the raid on Osama bin Laden. The latest edition of Jewish Fiction.net is out, featuring stories by S.Y. Agnon, George Jonas and Lea Kaminsky….
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News An Israeli restaurant chain said it closed due to boycotts. Protesters are celebrating.
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Opinion Jews are worried about Zohran Mamdani. Here’s why they shouldn’t be
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Film & TV What the new season of ‘Nobody Wants This’ gets right — and very wrong — about Judaism
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Opinion JD Vance just made a critical error in Israel — and time to curb Hamas is running short
In Case You Missed It
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News Jews alone can’t help Cuomo pull off an upset – but they may be fueling his momentum
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News Why rabbis across America are taking sides in New York’s mayoral race
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Yiddish World Maria Ka’s cosmic Yiddish music — from punk grit to starlight
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Fast Forward Rabbi Alvin Kass, longest-serving NYPD chaplain famed for 9/11 response, dies at 89
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