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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Cartoon Angers Jewish Group in Canada
Try as one might, it would be difficult for the discerning eye to disagree that the constellation of stars superimposed over one another on the clock face of Ottawa’s Peace Tower bears a slight resemblance to the Star of David. That interpretation is now a matter of debate after a Canadian French-language newspaper published a…
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For Gypsy Travelers, All Roads Lead to Budapest
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish here. For musicians traveling through Eastern Europe in search of the authentic Gypsy experience, all roads lead to Bob Cohen in Budapest. A fiddler, scholar and gracious host, Cohen could tell you in which Transylvanian town you can still find an old-time band, or just a lone…
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Champion of the Jewish National Game
Chess has sometimes been termed “the Jewish National Game” due to the extraordinary number of great Jewish grandmasters. One such was Wilhelm Steinitz, who ranked as first undisputed world chess champion and who is the subject of “The Steinitz Papers: Letters and Documents of the First World Chess Champion” newly available from McFarland & Co….
The Latest
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More Lulav Fraud!
How naïve we were! Last week, we reported with some surprise, revelations that black market lulavs were being smuggled into Israel. Now, it seems that lulav fraud doesn’t stop with smuggling. The Chief Rabbinate has put out notices in synagogues and public locations warning people to beware of lulavs whose tips have become split and…
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What Will Happen (When the Messiah Comes)?
On the Yiddish Song of the Week blog, clarinetist Joel Rubin writes about “Vos vet zayn?” (What Will Happen?), a song performed by Rabbi Eli Silberstein of Ithaca, New York. Rubin writes: Rabbi Eli Silberstein (first name pronounced to rhyme with “deli”) has been the charismatic leader of the Roitman Chabad Center at Cornell University…
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Disastrous New Year’s Prophecies
Planning a trip to China? Make it quick. The world’s most populous nation is about to disappear. That’s just one of the “wild” New Year’s predictions that Israeli news website Ynetnews.com reported from Israeli mystics on September 17. “God will cleanse the world and erase China from the world this year, and there will be…
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Tel Aviv Artist Wins Inaugural Photography Prize
Earlier this month, the Israel Museum and the Shpilman Art and Culture Foundation awarded the first Shpilman International Prize for Excellence in Photography to Michal Heiman, recognizing her not only as a pre-eminent photographer, but also as an artist whose work consistently tests the boundaries between visual art and other means of human expression. Heiman…
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Sacha Baron Cohen To Play Freddie Mercury
Ali G is going to play Freddie Mercury, but he won’t appear as the “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy” just yet. British funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen has been tapped to be the “Killer Queen” in an upcoming musical biopic of Queen’s late lead singer, but he has to finish a couple of other films before…
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Facebook CEO’s College Nickname Revealed
Turns out Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a notorious collegiate past that doesn’t only have to do with creating the social networking site Facebook. Gawker reported recently that, before he dropped out of Harvard to launch his multibillion dollar endeavor, Zuckerberg was an officer at the reputationally Jewish Fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi. He even had…
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An Arab-Jewish Duo Unites Over Sexy Synth-Pop
If Chromeo has proven anything, it’s that they’re “leg men.” The cover art of the Montreal-based electro-pop duo’s breakout album, “Fancy Footwork” (2007), reveals David “Dave 1” Macklovitch and Patrick “P-Thugg” Gemayel playing keyboards perched atop legs straight out of a Robert Palmer video. Their third and latest album, “Business Casual,” released last week, continues…
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Being Polite, All the Way to the Israeli Bank
It pays to be polite, even in Israel. Though not known for their sparkling manners, Israelis are finely attuned to matters of etiquette and make more money when they treat others well, according to a survey published September 14. In a national study titled “Is It Worth It To Be Polite?” researchers from the Jerusalem…
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Yiddish אַ טור פֿון דער אויסשטעלונג „מגילת־אסתּר אין דער רעמבראַנדט־תּקופֿה“ — אויף ייִדיש!A tour of “The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt” exhibit — in Yiddish!
אין דער אויסשטעלונג געפֿינען זיך 120 מאָלערײַען פֿון דער פּורים־העלדין, געמאָלט פֿון די האָלענדישע קונסטמײַסטערס.
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