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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El Al Passenger Buys Ticket to L.A., but Ends Up in New York
Crossposted from Haaretz A passenger with a ticket for an El Al flight to Los Angeles mistakenly boarded a flight to New York at Ben-Gurion International Airport, and neither he nor the crew discovered the mix-up until the plane had landed in the United States. The incident, which occurred two weeks ago, exposed several errors:…
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Holocaust Survivor Tweets Her Story
“Survival in Auschwitz,” 187 pages. “Fatelessness,” 272 pages. “Anka’s Story,” 140 characters. As far as Holocaust memoirs go, Anka Voticky’s is unlike anything you’ll ever read, er, tweet. The 97-year-old, who originally wrote a narrative memoir for her family’s records a few years ago, is sharing her story on the social media platform Twitter, posting…
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From Serious News to the Tabloids
Martin Fletcher’s newest book, “Walking Israel: A Personal Search for the Soul of a Nation,” will be available tomorrow. 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 left NBC…
The Latest
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From Lord of the Manor to Sleeping on the Park Bench
When I arrived at the East London Sukkah this blustery Saturday, the afternoon’s schedule of programs was running behind to accommodate a late entry: “A Guide to Squatting” by the North East London Squatters Network. It was an appropriate event for the festival of Sukkot, which asks us to recall our nomadic history and move…
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A Piano to the Rescue
Crossposted from Haaretz “I didn’t have a bad childhood, but I was pretty lonely. I spent a lot of time alone in my room, listening to music and dreaming my little dream of making music, and appearing in concerts.” This is how Tzvika Lorber, known as Tzvika Force on stage, describes his start as an…
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Out and About: PEN Literary Awards; Schwartz’s Deli, the Musical
How a machinist named Martin Cohen became the pre-eminent photographer of New York’s Latin music scene. Montreal’s Schwartz’s Hebrew Delicatessen is set to be turned into a musical. Is it time to update the Hebrew alphabet for the Internet age? Read an interview with Allen Ginsberg collaborator and “Howl!” illustrator Eric Drooker. The trailer for…
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Facebook’s Zuckerberg Donates $100 Million to Newark Schools
It’s doubtful that anyone will use Oprah’s couch as a trampoline this afternoon, but audience members may leap from their seats when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears on the Oprah Winfrey show to formally announce his $100 million donation to the Newark public schools. The gift is part of Zuckerberg’s new foundation, Startup: Education, which…
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Old Jews Telling Jokes Getting Spinoff Series
The rumormill is churning with news that the web video series Old Jews Telling Jokes (which was recently adapted into a book by the same name) is being made into a TV show, tentatively titled “Nag & Noodge.” According to the comedy website splitsider.com, the hilarious “webisodes” will be the basis of a new web…
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This Week in Forward Arts and Culture
It’s Sukkos! And though the Sukkah City architecture contest may no longer be on display in Union Square, we’ve got plenty of coverage for your vicarious enjoyment. Maia Efrem walks us through the finalists; Nate Lavey treats us to a video on location, and Gabrielle Birkner talks to rabbinic consultant Dani Passow in an audio…
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In Jewish Sports News…
Hope swelled for a quick moment after the NFL’s Oakland Raiders named Bruce Gradkowski their starting quarterback earlier this week, just days after he led his team to a 16-14 comeback victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Why? Certainly not because of Gradkowski’s quarterback rating of 66 over an inconsistent 27-game career. No, it seemed for…
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Navigating Sprawling Israeli Cemeteries─with GPS?
Going to one of Israel’s cemeteries at this time of year is quite an experience. Around the chagim, many people visit the graves of dead forebears. Yet Israel’s cemeteries are commonly large and sprawling and people paying their respects often struggle to find the grave they are looking for. On any given day, in any…
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Yiddish World How my grandparents met: a Yiddish-American romance
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