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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Matisyahu’s Show at Tel Aviv’s Zappa Club Was Nothing to Write Your Rabbi About
Crossposted from Haaretz Matisyahu’s Tuesday night show should have been a great joy, first of all because of the location. Ordinarily, the conditions at Zappa are nothing to get excited about, but just one day after Bob Dylan’s performance in the cursed expanses of the Ramat Gan Stadium, a show in a small, crowded club…
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Out and About: Alice Walker Sails For Gaza; Woody Allen Heads For Rome
Novelist Alice Walker explains why she is sailing to Gaza. The New York Times profiles Idan Raichel, Israel’s “musician of the decade.” JWeekly profiles the Ridin’ Chai Motorcycle Club of Northern California. In Souciant, The Arty Semite contributor Joel Schalit writes about Public Enemy in Arabic. In Tablet, The Arty Semite contributor Shulem Deen writes…
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The Drugs Made Me Say It: John Galliano’s Hate Speech Defense
It was the alcohol and drugs talking, not John Galliano. That’s the defense being used, predictably, by the English fashion designer, who went on trial in Paris today for anti-Semitic rants made at a restaurant in the French capital in October and February. The comments qualify as criminal hate speech in France, where Galliano faces…
The Latest
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Yizkor Prayer Controversy Spreads Through Facebook
Some Facebook users have recently been posting things like, “I thought Yom HaZikaron was last month” or “Yom HaZikaron again so soon?” as their statuses. It’s not because they don’t know that Israel’s Memorial Day takes place the day before Israel’s Independence Day, but rather because of all the “Yizkor” candle icons they have been…
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Of Women, Comics, and Reclaiming Jewish Stereotypes
While various critics have noted the strong influence that Jews have had on the creation of American comics, few have fully explored the role of Jewish women. Yet Jewish women have often been at the forefront of creative explorations in the graphic narrative form. And in many of their comics, Jewish identity is a fertile…
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Roberto Cavalli To Attend Tel Aviv Fashion Week
Tel Aviv’s efforts to establish itself as a global fashion center are getting support from one of the industry’s biggest names. Italian designer Roberto Cavalli has accepted an invitation to attend Israel’s resurrected Fashion Week, set to run between November 21 and 24 in Tel Aviv. The hope is that the couture tycoon will help…
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Human Rights Advocate Shulamith Koenig’s Industrial Folk Sculptures
Shulamith Koenig has little reason to be humble. Well-known for her work as a human rights advocate and her role as founding president of the People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning, she is, with Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jimmy Carter and James Grant, a recipient of the United Nations Prize in the Field…
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Too Convenient? Megan Fox Joins ‘The Dictator’ Film Cast
Though skeptical about conspiracy theories, The Shmooze can’t help but raise an eyebrow at the timing of Megan Fox’s latest career news. Two days after director Michael Bay claimed that Steven Spielberg ordered the actress fired from “Transformers 3” because of a rather unfortunate comparison she made between Bay and Hitler, Fox has joined the…
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Books The Voice
On Monday, David Albahari explained the motive behind the madness of one-paragraph novels. 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 think it was Saul Bellow who once said…
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Molekula, a Jaffa Showcase for Original and Expensive Design
Crossposted from Haaretz When one talks about young Israeli design, one thinks not only about innovation and improvisation but also about materials that are inexpensive and that find expression for the most part in small items of furniture that are popularly priced. Molekula, a new store that recently opened on Jaffa’s Yehuda Hayamit Street, is…
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How Ernst Kantorowicz Escaped The Nazis
The historian Ernst Kantorowicz, born to a German Jewish family in present-day Poznań, is remembered for such magisterial studies as “The King’s Two Bodies,” still available from Princeton University Press and a study of King Frederick the Second. Kantorowicz’s dramatic life has also attracted attention, from service in World War I to his escape from…
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Fast Forward How the Jewish commandment to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ could help a woman challenge Kentucky’s abortion ban in court
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: יוטוב־פּערזענלעכקייט רעדט אויף ייִדיש וועגן אַ משפּחה־טראַגעדיעVIDEO: Youtube personality speaks in Yiddish about a tragedy in the family
מאַטי מענדלאָוויטשעס ברודער, וואָס האָט יאָרן לאַנג געליטן פֿון דעפּרעסיע, האָט הײַיאָר זיך גענומען דאָס לעבן. .
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Music Can 6 hours of Billy Joel turn critics into believers?
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