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
-
What Are Your Favorite Overlooked Jewish Sites Around the Globe?
From the pre-Inquisition sites that dot Spain to farming villages in South America, some Jewish places are so surprising and little known that not even the most traveled among us have stumbled across them in our journeys. Help the Forward’s Michael Luongo select the top 10 Jewish historical sites that most of us have never…
-
Monday Music: The Girls Are in Trouble, but Not This Album
It is hard to believe we are only five years from klezmer-punk band Golem’s 2006 debut album, “Fresh Off Boat,” and the first time (most of us) heard Alicia Jo Rabins on a record. Since then we have gotten a follow-up from Golem (2009’s tremendous “Citizen Boris”) and a solo debut from Rabin’s new project,…
-
Surveying the Jewish Remains of Bosnia-Herzegovina
Courtesy of Samuel D. Gruber/US Commission for Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad Crossposted from Samuel Gruber’s Jewish Art & Monuments I am pleased to report the release by the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad of a report on the survey of “Jewish Heritage Sites of Bosnia-Herzegovina.” The survey of over 60…
The Latest
-
Sweden’s Queen Agrees To Investigate Royal Family’s Alleged Nazi Ties
A year after issuing an angry denial, Sweden’s Queen Silvia will investigate her family’s alleged Nazi past, including her father’s 1939 acquisition of a Jewish-owned factory in Germany. Rumors about her family history have long trailed the German-born queen, who last year protested a Swedish television documentary that looked into her father’s role in Germany’s…
-
Monday Music: Aviv Geffen, Steven Wilson and Israeli-British Hybrid DNA
Photo by Chiko. Courtesy of Kscope Music. As far as cross-cultural collaborations go, Blackfield’s most recent album, “Welcome to My DNA,” is rather unexpected. Not because the album is particularly shocking, but for just the opposite reason — because without reading the liner notes, the album plays like that of any other band. But unlike…
-
Books Scatterbrained, but a Star
Crossposted from Haaretz A large pigeon roosts on the roof of a house in the picture that opens the new edition of “Ha-Mefuzar Mi-Kfar Azar” (“The Absent-Minded Guy from Kefar Azar,” Am Oved, 1968), by Leah Goldberg. Goldberg’s book, based on a work by Russian Jewish writer Samuil Marsha, originally appeared with illustrations that she…
-
Out and About: A Modern Tower of Babel; Paul Simon and ‘A Pure Moment of Sobbing Joy’
The Library of Congress [has launched][1] an online “National Jukebox” of some 10,000 historical recordings. The New York Times profiles guitarist Gary Lucas on the occasion of his new CD, “The Ordeal of Civility.” Argentine artist Marta Minujine has built a 25-meter Tower of Babel out of 30,000 books. A student remembers Yeshiva University economics…
-
This Week in Forward Arts and Culture
Gordon Haber reviews Jon Ronson’s “The Psychopath Test,” a book about, well, crazy people. I ponder Jewish music that courts a secular audience with religious material. Joshua Furst believes in the spirit of Tony Kushner’s new play, if not always its execution. Elissa Strauss goes to see the art collection of the Cone Sisters of…
-
Books The Furrier, the Psychoanalyst and the Assassin
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish. As one unravels the history of the 20th century, it becomes apparent how deeply individual lives were woven into the larger fabric of world events. From the shtetls of Eastern Europe a new generation of Jewish youth emerged whose exploits shook the entire world. Now, after the…
-
Books Memory, Scent and My Mother
Earlier this week, Molly Birnbaum wrote about her first writing teacher and the scent of Passover. Her 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: This past Sunday was Mother’s Day….
-
Knesset Member Resists Planned Naked Dead Sea Shoot
A conservative Knesset member is attacking the “culture of Sodom and Gomorrah” that might bring thousands of naked Israelis to the shores of the Dead Sea. Zevulun Orlev, a member of the religious HaBayit HaYehudi party, has asked Israeli legal authorities to prevent a planned photo shoot by Spencer Tunick, an American artist who has,…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
- 2
Music ‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history
- 3
Music Remembering Ozzy Osbourne’s Jewish vow renewal
- 4
Culture She was my Hebrew school bully — and I finally learned what happened to her
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward The largest Reconstructionist synagogue is set to cut ties with the movement over Israel tensions
-
Culture The Melania Trump Opera House won’t change hearts and minds — not even the president’s
-
Fast Forward Columbia suspends, expels and revokes diplomas of students involved in Butler Library takeover
-
Fast Forward Youth wing of the Democratic Party passes amendment opposing Israel’s ‘ongoing genocide in Gaza’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
