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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‘Precious Life’ Film Nominated for VH1 Award
Crossposted from Haaretz “Precious Life,” a documentary film by Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar, will be in the running next month for an award sponsored by the VH1 music television channel and the American social service organization “Do Something.” The competition provides recognition to young people working for social change and also confers awards in the…
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Out and About: Bollywood in Israel; Iraq’s Jewish Book Trove
Bollywood filmmakers are visiting Israel to make connections and scout locations during the Jerusalem International Film Festival. Prolific and influential graphic designer and Vanity Fair caricaturist Paolo Garretto was once a member of Mussolini’s bodyguards. A collection of Jewish Iraqi books discovered in a basement used by Saddam Hussein’s secret police and recovered during the…
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Tennessee Sculptor Makes Bid for Anne Frank Tree
Getty Images The remains of the tree that Anne Frank saw in her neighbor’s yard while she was in hiding from the Nazis is in legal limbo while the foundation organized to preserve it battles the contractor they hired to do so. Ever since it fell last August, Jewish museums in Berlin, New York and…
The Latest
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Starlet Quits Israeli ‘American Idol’ After Dad Admits To Skewing Vote
Following a voting scandal caused by her own father, a teenage singer has quit the Israeli version of “American Idol.” Seventeen-year-old Tamar Yahalomi announced today that she will not compete in the semi-finals of “Kochav Nolad” (“A Star Is Born”), the popular Israeli edition of the singing contest. The decision came several days after it…
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Singers From Outer Space Descend on New York
Photo by Leon Sokoletski A crash is heard at the Westside Theatre. Something unidentified, something flying, lands with a thud on the stage, and from the wreckage emerge eight figures. Bright white from head to toe except for ruby red lips, these creatures are from the planet Voca, a strange and exotic land where “life…
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Books Behind ‘Farm 54’: The Making of ‘Spanish Perfume’
On Monday, Galit and Gilad Seliktar shared the making of the first story in “Farm 54,” “The Substitute Lifeguard.” Today, they share the background behind “Spanish Perfume,” the second story in their graphic novel. Galit and Gilad Seliktar’s posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and…
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Books Harvey Pekar, Our Mensch in Cleveland
Jeff Newelt is editor of the Pekar Project and the forthcoming “Harvey Pekar’s CLEVELAND.” If I had my druthers I’d do a universal search/replace on the Internet, find all instances of Harvey Pekar, who died one year ago at age 70, being lazily labeled a “curmudgeon,” and switch each misnomer to “mensch.” It’s not that…
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Israeli Rabbi Wants To Bring Polygamy Back
One thousand years ago, German Jewish sage Rabbeinu Gershom forbade polygamy in the Jewish community. Now, a rabbi in Israel wants to reinstate the practice. Rabbi Yehezkel Sopher, who heads the organization Complete Jewish Family, placed an advertisement in a popular pamphlet handed out at synagogue calling for the return of plural marriage, according to…
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Welcome to Tel Aviv, Circa 1935
Crossposted from Haaretz Here is what the advertisement said: “Hator Passage, now under construction in Tel Aviv, will hold shops, offices, banks, clubs, hotels and so on and is being built by the latest methods like the shopping arcades in Europe. Potential tenants may want large areas with special entrances on each floor.” The ad…
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Sherwood Schwartz, Creator of ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ Is Dead at 94
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale… Of a Jew from Passaic, NJ who created two iconic television series that helped define an era. Sherwood Schwartz, who died today in Los Angeles at 94, was the force behind “Gilligan’s Island” and “The Brady Bunch,” two of the “most affectionately ridiculed and enduring television…
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A Video Message to the Ultra-Orthodox: ‘It Gets Besser’
If you are a gay or lesbian young person, then “It Gets Better.” But if you a Haredi, Hasidic or Yeshivish Jew yearning to leave your ultra-Orthodox community, then “It Gets Besser.” Taking a cue from LGBT Orthodox Jews who are increasingly taking pride in who they are and staking claim in the Jewish community,…
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Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
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News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
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Culture Cardinals are Catholic not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
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Fast Forward Halal restaurant opening in Congress is like ‘Muslim conquest of Jerusalem,’ says GOP congressman
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Fast Forward Germany formally classifies far-right AfD party as extremist, in blow to Nazi-linked populist movement
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Fast Forward Trump taps shock jock Sid Rosenberg and a Haredi newspaper publisher for Holocaust Memorial Council
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