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
Turkish Coffee for the Crown Prince
Earlier this week, Reyna Simnegar, the author of “Persian Food from the Non-persian Bride: And Other Sephardic Kosher Recipes You Will Love,” wrote about Miss Venezela Material and Sephardim Strike Back! 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…
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Books Why Are the Brits So Into Nazi-Themed Books?
In 1975, UK author Alan Coren published a humorous collection of essays called “Golfing for Cats” — and emblazoned the cover with a huge swastika. He had noticed the most popular titles in Britain were about cats, golf and Nazis. Thirty-six years later, notes the BBC this week, “Nazi books are going stronger than ever….
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Orthodox Lawmakers Ensure Animal Rights Legislation Doesn’t Interfere with Kapparpot
In Israel, the lobby for animal welfare is strong, and growing. It’s an issue that brings together left and right, secular and religious… up to a point. Behind the scenes in the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in recent days, there have been desperate attempts to add a clause to new animal welfare legislation…
The Latest
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Israeli Company Sued After Glass Is Found in Softdrink Bottle
Israeli business paper The Marker reports that a court has fined the drink manufacturer Tempo 13,000 ($3,500) shekels after a woman found glass in a bottle of Jump soft drink. The woman who found the glass gets 3,000 shekels ($850) in compensation. Aside from the soft penalty, the strange part of the story is that…
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Friday Film: Stalking Grace
In a 2007 obituary for Grace Paley published in the New York Times, Margalit Fox wrote that “Ms. Paley was among the earliest American writers to explore the lives of women — mostly Jewish, mostly New Yorkers — in all their dailiness.” Lilly Rivlin’s recent documentary, “Grace Paley: Collected Shorts,” screening March 27 at the…
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Arabic Letters Flooding Into Knesset, Members Unhappy
It has to be one of the most common comments on the Middle East conflict. “If only everyone would resort to dialogue instead of turning to violence.” But when Knesset members start receiving emails from Arabs on the conflict, some seem to be unimpressed. Ynet reports that lawmakers have started to receive “large numbers” of…
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Psychiatry, Poetry and the Bible
Interpreters of Genesis 22:1-19, which details Abraham’s near sacrifice of his only son on Mount Moriah, usually focus on the awesome loyalty and faith of our forefather. But Isaac’s role also invites analysis. Psychiatrist and poet Freddy Frankel sees Isaac as a compassionate, perhaps older man who deems his father’s dilemma quite possibly unsound, yet…
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You Can Now Insert Your Own Name in Duck Sauce’s Streisand Song
Babs fans, how lucky can you get? (Funny Lady pun!) Not only has the Duck Sauce song, “Barbra Streisand,” crept over 44 million YouTube views, far outnumbering any video of Streisand herself, a customizable version of the song is now going viral at GoBarbra. The website allows viewers to type in their own names or…
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Poetics of Fasting
Each Thursday The Arty Semite features excerpts and reviews of the best contemporary Jewish poetry. This week Jake Marmer introduces “Aggadic Guidelines to Ta’anit Esther.” It is perhaps not surprising that most Jewish holiday poetry out there is either about the High Holidays or Passover. The extensive liturgy and introspection in the case of the…
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NYC’s Jewish ‘Street Fair King’ Upset Over Cuts
To organizers, they’re colorful, family-oriented neighborhood celebrations. To detractors, they’re traffic-snarling commercial ventures that hijack streets and punish locals. Now, after a long-simmering dispute over street fairs, New York City has decided to cut the size and hours of the outdoor bazaars, the Daily News reported this week. Street fairs, “which often generate complaints from…
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Jewish Geisha Takes on Manhattan Bar
Geishas, the Japan Guide web site explains, “are professional entertainers who attend guests during meals, banquets and other occasions…. Their role is to make guests feel at ease with conversation, drinking games and dance performances.” And, according to a front-page story in this week’s Village Voice, they can also be Jewish. In her first-person account…
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Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
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News Is the crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism the new Red Scare?
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Opinion Trump’s cuts are a war on Jewish literature, thought and history itself
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