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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Where Art Meets the Sea
Crossposted from Haaretz A makeshift artists colony arose last week on Bat Yam’s main beach, between the concrete skeleton of an abandoned hotel and a plastic playground. Over the next month it will host artists in various media as well as musicians from Israel and abroad. The guests will stay in temporary structures, reminiscent of…
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Israel’s Only Secular Yiddish Publication Celebrates 60 Years
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish. In May 1951, a group of immigrants to Israel, mainly Holocaust survivors, founded a social, political and cultural group based on the model of the General Jewish Labour Bund of pre-war Poland. That group, which became the Israeli branch of the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring, bought a building…
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Can a Polish Priest Be a Jew? Not According to the Law of Return
Courtesy of Go2Films One is tempted to declare that “Torn,” the documentary by Israeli filmmaker Ronit Kertsner making its American debut at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, is about the “Who is a Jew?” question. It is. But it is also about more than that. The film tells the story of Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel,…
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Books Improving Moral Vocabulary
Eric Greitens is the author of “The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL.” His 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: In…
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Giant Israeli Pumpkins Fertilized With Qassam Rockets?
One common interpretation of the symbolic significance of the egg on the Seder plate at Passover is that it represents the paradox of the Jews. Suffering at the hands of oppressors, from ancient Egyptians onward, made us stronger. Likewise, eggs are one of the few foods that get harder when boiled. There’s nothing new there…
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Amy Winehouse and Her Father
Crossposted from Haaretz The only impressive thing about “My Daughter Amy,” the film about the British Grammy-winning singer Amy Winehouse, who died July 23 at age 27, are the photos of her infancy and childhood. The film, first shown on Britain’s Channel 4 about a year ago, is airing tonight and over the weekend on…
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Out and About: Maurice Sendak’s New Book; Israeli Raid on Jenin Theater
Maurice Sendak has written and illustrated his first children’s book in 30 years, titled “Bumble-Ardy.” A new social networking site is based in the Proust Questionnaire. Joel Schalit evaluates Berlin’s susceptibility to an Oslo-type attack. Justin Bartha, who is currently starring in Zach Braff’s play “All New People,” will next appear in Jesse Eisenberg’s “Asuncion”…
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Introducing ‘Judoku’: Sudoku for Jews
“Oy Vey! Is this a mishuga game or what!” That’s the reaction game developer Andrew Charon hopes you’ll have, at least. Charon is the mastermind behind Judoku, a Jewish-themed version of the popular Sudoku puzzle. Instead of simply lining up the numbers one through nine in that familiar 81-cell matrix, puzzle-doers can choose to arrange…
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Israel Medical Association Chairman Leads Hunger Strike
Dr. Leonid Eidelman, the chairman of the Israel Medical Association, is doing something he would probably never allow any of his patients to do: He is going on a hunger strike to try to force Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene in a four-month-old doctors’ strike. With efforts to negotiate a settlement with the Finance…
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Israeli Parents Launch ‘Stroller March’ To Protest High Cost of Raising Children
Boy, oh boy — and girl, oh girl — things happen fast in Israel. Just the other week, The Marker ran a big story on the comparatively high cost of raising children in Israel, as compared to other countries. Everything from diapers to strollers to baby clothes and toys seem to cost more in Israel….
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Crusading Editor Who Brought Orthodox Sex Abuse to Light
A courtroom sketch from Yisroel Shapiro’s trial on charges of sexual molestation. Courtesy of Bennett-Robbins Productions. A handshake was all it took to set Scott Rosenfelt, an accomplished filmmaker, on a journey to break the wall of secrecy protecting child sex abusers in the Orthodox Jewish community. The way Rosenfelt tells it, a friend, Phil…
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