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
-
Friday Film: Amos Oz on Not Writing Universally
Courtesy of Yonathan & Masha Films Yonathan and Masha Zur’s recent documentary “Amos Oz: The Nature of Dreams,” screening May 17 at the New York Israel Film Festival, expertly circles around the question: What is the place of politics in literature, and vice versa? For Oz, the two cannot be disentangled. “To write what they…
-
Go the F*** To Sleep
It’s not porn, that’s colonizing the viral virtual space of business America in early May 2011 but a children’s book written by Adam Mansbach. Mansbach is best known for his cheerily titled books “Angry Black White Boy: A Novel” and “The End of the Jews: A Novel,” But he has clearly met with parenthood in…
-
Books András Mezei’s Holocaust Poetry for Our Time
András Mezei (1930-2008) was a major Jewish-Hungarian poet who left behind a retrospective exploration of the Holocaust for our time. There are many voices speaking to us of terror, folly, greed, cruelty and absurdity, but Mezei’s poetry makes them sound like our own voices. His testimony has been published in England, in my translation, as…
The Latest
-
Schwarzenegger Celebrates Israeli Independence Day in L.A.
The end of his marriage didn’t stop Arnold Schwarzenegger from celebrating Israeli Independence Day this week. The “Terminator” star and former California governor spoke Tuesday at the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, wishing the country “another 63 years of great joy, peace and a thriving economy.” The appearance marked Schwarzenegger’s first since the announcement Monday…
-
Picasso and the Cone Sisters
Claribel and Etta Cone were born in Baltimore in 1864 and 1870, respectively. Two daughters from a large family of German Jewish immigrants, they were in many ways ahead of their time. Claribel Cone went to medical school and later became a professor at Johns Hopkins University. Neither sister ever married, and together they traveled,…
-
Study Suggests Jews Are Wealthiest After All
This news comes uncomfortably close to reinforcing old stereotypes — but a new study shows that Jews are indeed one of the wealthiest groups in the United States. Data collected by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that Reform and Conservative Jews ranked first and third, respectively, on a list of the…
-
Lag B’Omer Can Wait 24 Hours, Says Israeli Rabbi
Everyone knows the joke about how much Jews love to disagree — the single inhabitant of a desert island builds two synagogues so that he has one to assiduously avoid. Now, disagreement has cropped up in a new sphere — the calendar. Children across Israel are scouring forests and streets for sticks and scraps of…
-
A Director Sheds Light on Sexual Abuse of Women in Arab Society
Crossposted from Haaretz One of the interviewees in the film “Doma” sits in her house next to a window overlooking the sea. Only parts of her are reflected in the window pane. In quiet, almost whispered tones, the woman offers a heartbreaking tale of the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her uncle…
-
Out and About: Israeli Music for Syrian Protestors; The Shame of Playing Shylock
The Independent takes a look at Habonim, the Socialist Zionist youth group that was once home to Mike Leigh, David Baddiel and Sacha Baron Cohen. The Brooklyn Rail revisits the work of Russian Jewish filmmaker Dziga Vertov, on the occasion of a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. Israeli singer Amir Benayoun (profiled in…
-
A Scientist From the Overachieving Panofsky Family
The German-born Jewish physicist Wolfgang Panofsky confounds the general rule about offspring of geniuses being disappointments. Son of the eminent art historian Erwin Panofsky, Wolfgang was not just an accomplished scientist who made contributions to the Manhattan Project, but was also a delightfully witty man, as proven by a new paperback edition of his charming…
-
Israeli Actress Mali Levi To Star Opposite Brad Pitt in Zombie Thriller
The Shmooze reported a few months ago that the race was on among Israel’s top actresses to land a part opposite Brad Pitt in “World War Z,” a zombie thriller set for release in 2014. Well, there appears to be a winner. Hebrew-language news site Ynet reports that the role of a female Israeli soldier…
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
-
Opinion Undocumented people need Jewish allies. Why can’t they find them?
-
Culture For 110 years, a proudly Jewish family has been a treasured purveyor of pork
-
Fast Forward Minneapolis’ Omar Fateh is the latest democratic socialist and Israel critic to win his party’s endorsement for mayor
-
Antisemitism Decoded Netanyahu tried to court young Trump fans — here’s why it didn’t work
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
