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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Shyne On: Rapper Shyne Talks About His Prison Stint and Becoming a Hasidic Jew
Jewish-born hip hop star Shyne tells the Forward that he spent his nine-year prison stint “wrapping tefillin.” Could he soon be rapping about tefillin? Freed from U.S. detention 15 months ago for injuring three people when he opened fire in a Manhattan nightclub in 1999, the 34-year-old Belize native now resides in Jerusalem as Moses…
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Tevye Like You Have Never Seen Him Before
What do you get when Russian pogroms are set in the world of urban dance competitions? A breakdancing Tevye. A spoof trailer and mash-up of “Fiddler on the Roof” and “You Got Served” features the Fiddler cast dancing to Ludacris and Method Man. Watch the video for some new moves
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So You Think You Can Choreograph?
Crossposted from Haaretz Every young dance artist striving to establish himself as a choreographer dreams of the moment when the manager of a theater or cultural institution offers him funding and a framework to produce a full-length work. This is exactly what happened to Anat Yaffe after Emmanuel Witzthum saw a short duet she created….
The Latest
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Out and About: Palestinian National Orchestra Debuts; Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Kaddish’ at 50
An exhibit at the Israel Museum celebrates German Jewish painter Jakob Steinhardt. The Arty Semite contributor Menachem Wecker looks at a 1979 caricature of Henry Kissinger that was cut from the New York Times. Which Yiddish books would you like to see translated? The Palestinian National Orchestra has its debut. Eilat celebrates the 10th annual…
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This Week in Forward Arts and Culture
Benjamin Ivry remembers Yuli Margolin, a survivor of the gulag whose memoirs have finally been published, 40 years after his death. Philologos strips down. Jenna Weissman Joselit pores over the Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. Catie Lazarus takes a look at Jewish documentary filmmakers. Mark Cohen explains how Sephardic Jewry survived the expulsion from Spain. Raphael…
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The Business Secrets of the Talmud
Greek clerics may blame us for wrecking their country’s economy, as the Forward reported last week. But in China, Jews are hailed as “very smart, very clever, and very good at business,” according to Newsweek. “The apparent affection for Jewishness has led to a surprising trend in publishing over the last few years: books purporting…
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Want to be Closer to the Kotel? There’s an App for That
Using your iPhone to place a note inside the Western Wall sounds terrific, except for squeezing the mobile device into one of those crannies. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which administers the wall, has a better idea: A new iPhone app that “allows users to send e-mails to be placed in the crevices of the…
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Gershom Scholem’s Brother
Many years ago, while researching German supporters of Holocaust reparations, I went in search of information on the social-democratic politician Kurt Schumacher. I found what I was looking for, but right next to Schumacher’s listing in an encyclopedia was a surprise: “Scholem, Werner, * 29.12.1895 Berlin, † 17.7.1940 KZ Buchenwald; konfessionslos.” It was Gershom Scholem’s…
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A Display of Israeli Chauvinism, or a Storm in a Beer Mug?
Kadima lawmaker Otniel Schneller blamed immigrants to Israel from the Former Soviet Union for the national upsurge in drunk driving. He said that “they brought their drinking habits over from there.” Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat tried to stop him, but Schneller continued on to say that prior to this immigration “the problem of…
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Emerging Artist: Tanya Fredman’s Talmudic Vision
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish here. Last month, New York’s central Jewish education agency changed its name, and is now celebrating its new identity with a fascinating exhibit of a fresh new Jewish artist and art educator. The exhibit, hosted by the Jewish Education Project (formerly the Board of Jewish Education of…
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Green Fields Brings Folk Music to Graze in Israel
Crossposted from Haaretz Looking to rekindle your youth? This New Year’s Day, Israeli folk trio Green Fields hopes to help you do just that in a special concert in Tel Aviv. Moni Arnon and Suzi Miller from the famed 1970s group Brothers and Sisters have teamed up with guitarist Sagi Eiland to perform their favorite…
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Opinion Israel is becoming a pariah state. Here’s what American Jews must do.
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Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
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Culture On the northwest side of Chicago, my old Jewish neighborhood may soon live on in infamy
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Opinion The two things I fear most after the horrifying attack on Jews in Boulder
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish אַ קורס וועגן די ייִדישע דיאַלעקטן אינעם אַלטן ייִשובֿA course about the Yiddish dialects of the ‘Old Yishuv’
דער ירושלימער ייִדיש שטאַמט פֿון ליטוויש ייִדיש בעת דער צפֿתער ייִדיש שטאַמט פֿון אוקראַיִניש ייִדיש.
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Opinion Don’t be grateful two hostages’ bodies were recovered. Be furious
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Culture Persecuted by the KGB, a Jewish master soared to new heights in the West
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Fast Forward Run for Their Lives, the Israeli hostage solidarity movement, presses on after Colorado firebombing
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