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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National Poetry Month: Passover and Easter
Stanley Moss’s much anticipated collection “God Breaketh Not All Men’s Hearts Alike: New and & Later Collected Poems” will be out in just a few months, and we’ll be sure to discuss its publication in the Forward. In the meantime, we’re bringing to you a time-appropriate sampling from the forthcoming collection. This poem exhibits Moss’s…
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Objects Come Alive in Tragicomic Holocaust Drama
Ronny Wasserstrom, left, as Mr. M, accomanied by his pigeon, center, played by Theresa Linnihan, and his shadow, right, played with finger puppets by Michelle Beshaw. Photo by Lee Wexler. In its evocation of “Terezin humor” — the grim recognition that if we didn’t laugh, we’d hang ourselves — “Mr. M,” by the Czechoslovak-American Marionette…
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Questions Aplenty From New Installation at San Francisco Museum
Is someone asking a question in the Yud Gallery at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco? Has the CJM just opened a new sound installation in its Yud Gallery called “Are we there yet?” Has it been designed — based on Jews’ inquisitive impulse — by regular collaborators Ken Goldberg (artist and professor of…
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Slideshow: The Ruins of Goodash
In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, Gideon Spiegel, the Tel Aviv-based Israeli artist also known as Goodash, entered an abandoned Egyptian house and leafed through family photo albums that had been left there. That experience of connecting to photos of a family amid the ruins of what was once their home led to his…
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The Goat and the Pear
Crossposted from Haaretz The master wishes to eat a pear, but a series of strange setbacks prevents him from biting into the succulent fruit — until the happy ending. This is the frame story of an old German folk song. Over the course of it, we encounter the following: a dog, a stick, water, fire,…
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Is Madonna Leaving Kabbalah for Opus Dei?
Is kabbalah losing its most famous student? No one can say for sure, but reports are spreading that Madonna is considering a switch to Opus Dei, the conservative Catholic sect arguably most famous for protesting its own vilification in “The Da Vinci Code.” The rumors suggest that Madonna sought out the group in reaction to…
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National Poetry Month: ‘Jewish Spring’
Today’s poem in honor of National Poetry Month is “Jewish Spring” by Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, which appears in his recent collection, “Uncle Feygele.” While the subject is a seemingly appropriate choice for Passover — also known as “Chag Ha’Aviv,” or the “Holiday of Spring” — the poem questions not only the contemporary state of nature…
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Monday Music: From Prague to Masada and Back Again
On her first visit to Israel in 1987, Czech-born Canadian singer Lenka Lichtenberg looked out from the top of Masada and never looked back. It was at that moment that she decided to leave behind her lounge singing career in pop, jazz, rock and folk and focus solely on perpetuating Yiddish culture through her music….
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An Imam, a Rabbi and a Priest Walk Into a Seder
Thursday night was certainly different from all other nights at The Olympic Collection Banquet Hall & Conference Center in West Los Angeles. On this particular night, the hall was reserved for the Universal Freedom Seder, an interfaith dinner attended by nearly 250 people to commemorate Passover, Easter, the Quranic story of Moses and the Arabic…
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More Israeli Employers Forgo Gifts at Passover and Rosh Hashanah
Bah, humbug! Ebenezer Scrooge seems to have come to Israel this Passover. The big talking point among Israelis during this time of year is what their company gave them. Employers are expected by convention to give employees a gift twice a year, at Passover and at Rosh Hashanah. It’s a longstanding tradition that dates from…
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The Jewish Dream Team Behind New Abe Lincoln Flick
If they could get Natalie Portman involved, it truly would be a Jewish dream team behind “Team of Rivals,” an upcoming Hollywood drama about the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Instead, they’ll have to make do with “just” the directing talents of Steven Spielberg and the writing gifts of Tony Kushner, who are collaborating for a…
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Opinion American Jews were played — now what?
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Fast Forward There’s a Jewish judge at the center of Trump’s Harvard showdown. Her grandfather escaped pogroms.
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