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
-
Monday Music: Ruth Gerson’s Home Songs
Not many pop-rock artists are inspired by Franz Rosenzweig’s “Star of Redemption” or “Totality and Infinity” by Emmanuel Levinas, but then again, Ruth Gerson is not your usual singer-songwriter. “Most often, I start writing a song because of something I am reading,” Gerson said. Given her academic background (she studied Jewish existentialism at Princeton), she…
-
Books The Pit of Tel Aviv, A Preliminary Damage Report
Avi Steinberg’s first book, “Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian,” is now available. His 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: I was on a roll…
-
Howard Jacobson’s Hanukkah Humbug
*Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree In this season of good will and holiday cheer, Howard Jacobson, the Booker Prize-winning author of “The Finkler Question” and a guest last term of George Washington’s English Department, has made mincemeat of Hanukkah. Taking to The New York Times to make his case, he suggests that this Jewish…
The Latest
-
Out and About: Remembering Walter Benjamin; Polanski Wins Big in Europe
A new book fails to exonerate Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. What accounts for the enduring fame of Walter Benjamin? And why isn’t Moses Mendelssohn similarly remembered? Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer” has won the prize for best film at the European Film Awards, while Samuel Maoz’s “Lebanon” took home two other awards. Read new fiction…
-
This Week in Forward Arts and Culture
John Semley goes behind the scenes of “Barney’s Version.” I profile musician, filmmaker, photographer and folk revivalist John Cohen. Glenn C. Altschuler reviews a new book about Harry Gold, a “disciplined, smart, lonely, pathetic and oddly appealing” Soviet spy. Benjamin Ivry takes a fresh look at the polarizing French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Philologos elucidates the…
-
A Rave Grows in Brooklyn
It is safe to wager that New York City has seen it all when an art rave fashion show spirals into an impromptu hora on an open, desolate warehouse block. These men’s dancing feet may have been inspired by a sudden spiritual impulse to be closer to God. But the sudden shakedown also could have…
-
Happy Hanukkah — Don’t Burn Your House Down
Latkes sizzling, dreidels spinning, menorahs burning… They may love the first two Hanukkah traditions, but Israeli firefighters have come to dread the Festival of Lights for the menorah-related surge of house fires it brings, the Associated Press reports. Many Jews light the holiday candles “too close to the drapes,” firefighters say; Jerusalem fire department spokesman…
-
First Female Arab Plastic Surgeon in Israel
For the first time, Israel has a female Arab plastic surgeon. Rania El Hativ, 28, is now operating at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. She hopes that her decision to enter the field will help to make Arab women less reticent about going for plastic surgery. “While there is growing openness to plastic surgery…
-
Friday Film: From Paris With Love
Isaac Zablocki is the director of film programs at The JCC in Manhattan. “Five Hours From Paris” is an Israeli film, inspired by classic French New Wave cinema, that tells the story of a taxi driver with a fear of flying and a Russian immigrant who is planning to move to Toronto. When “Five Hours…
-
Moody Thoughts About Bob Dylan and Cher
What do Bob Dylan, Cher, and Rick Moody have in common? Stop thinking, “Well, Dylan and Cher both did projects with the word “burlesque” in them…” Here’s the answer: Once upon a time William G. Scheele, who was the equipment/stage manager for The Band and Bob Dylan from 1969 to 1976 and a photographer whose…
-
Friday Film: ‘Black Swan’
Excepting the Coen brothers’ “True Grit” remake, or Disney’s blockbusting, multidimensional sequel to “Tron,” is there any film more anticipated this awards season than Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan”? Let’s rephrase that, for the sake of brevity. Is there any non-Jeff Bridges film more anticipated this awards’ season than “Black Swan”? Probably not. Ever since the…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 4
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Cardinals are Catholic not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
-
Fast Forward Halal restaurant opening in Congress is like ‘Muslim conquest of Jerusalem,’ says GOP congressman
-
Fast Forward Germany formally classifies far-right AfD party as extremist, in blow to Nazi-linked populist movement
-
Fast Forward Trump taps shock jock Sid Rosenberg and a Haredi newspaper publisher for Holocaust Memorial Council
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
