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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Books
Elaborate Lies With Convincing Details
Evan Fallenberg is the author of “When We Danced on Water: A Novel.” 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: I am probably a writer of fiction (as opposed…
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LUSH Soap Brand Boycotted for Ties to Pro-Palestinian Group
Those of us who like to like to soften our skin are being asked to toughen our stance against one of the largest purveyors of natural soaps and cosmetics. The pro-Israel organization United With Israel is calling on people to boycott LUSH products in response to the company’s financial support of OneWorld. OneWorld is the…
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Zions Other Than Zion
Michael Chabon’s novel “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” imagined Jewish refugees turning “Aleyska” into a Yiddish-speaking sanctuary for the “frozen chosen” in the 1940s. But truth is stranger than fiction. As I explain in a short documentary, which will be screened as part of a program on “Other Zions” at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research…
The Latest
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For Ravid Kahalani of Yemen Blues, ‘Music Is My Religion’
Crossposted from Haaretz Singer Ravid Kahalani’s apartment in the trendy Basel neighborhood of north Tel Aviv is furnished in Moroccan style, and he’s Skype-ing in English with the mother of his daughter back in Finland. Next to a black piano stands a three-string bass instrument called a guembri, and the suitcases lying partially open on…
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Out and About: This Year in Krakow; The Talmud of Henry VIII
How a complete set of the Bomberg Talmud found its way into King Henry VIII’s library. On the everlasting allure of the Jewish gangster. Mark Harman offers a new translation of Kafka’s short, short story, “A Message from the Emperor.” Bob Cohen reflects on this year’s Festival of Jewish Culture in Krakow, Poland. The Yardbirds…
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This Week in Forward Arts and Culture
Jay Michaelson suggests a third way in the San Francisco circumcision controversy. Philologos wonders whether Vice President Biden used the word “shtick” correctly. Mark Oppenheimer dishes on Robert Gottlieb’s not-salacious-enough collection of essays. Menachem Wecker visits a music festival dedicated to the heroism of Bulgaria’s Righteous Gentiles. Benjamin Ivry remembers Jean Zay, co-founder of the…
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Video: Sholem Aleichem in America
Though Sholem Aleichem is widely known for his depictions of Eastern European shtetl life, the famed Yiddish writer spent a number of years living and writing in America. In a new documentary titled “Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness,” director Joseph Dorman details the life of Sholem Aleichem, from his early successes to his many,…
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Friday Film: Jews and Their Opinions
Courtesy of Snitow-Kaufman Productions “Between Two Worlds” doesn’t unfold like a traditional documentary. Instead, Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow’s earnest exploration of Jewish identity uses loosely connected sequences to illuminate tensions between post-Holocaust protectionism and post-Diaspora leftism. For a people who still occupy an uncertain footing in the world, does dissent equal betrayal? Who is…
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Books The Gourmet’s Kids Ate Junk
Earlier this week, Efrat Libfroind wrote about her tribe; cooking and self-improvement; being a mother and a full-time pastry chef; and being the only kosher cooking student in class. Her new cookbook, “Kosher Elegance: The Art of Cooking With Style,” is now available. Her blog posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite,…
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In Song: Chukat
Each week The Arty Semite connects the Torah reading — however tenuously — with a classic work of rock and roll. This week’s parsha, Chukat, begins with the “Chok” — or law for which no reason is given or understood — of the red cow and how its ashes are to be used to purify…
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The Boy With ‘First World Problems’
Zach Katz, with his “The First World Problems Rap,” has provided a much-needed antidote to self-indulgent teen videos, like the one offered earlier this year by a bar mitzvah boy who shares his first name. (In case you missed it, “I’m Zack” by Zachary Freiman was a spectacular doozey.) The self-aware Katz belied his 17…
Explore
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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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Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
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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.
In Case You Missed It
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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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Music Jill Sobule was as much a Jewish icon as a queer one
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