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
-
Elena Kagan Gives Congress Its Most Jewish Moment Ever
As might be expected of an Upper West Side girl who demanded a bat mitzvah, Elena Kagan seems pretty comfortable with her roots. “As you know, I don’t think it’s a secret I am Jewish,” she said yesterday, during the second day of her confirmation hearings in front of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee. But the…
-
‘Michael Jackson of Jewish Music’ Headed to Jail
Michoel Streicher, a 50-year-old mentally ill Orthodox cantor who was popular (in certain circles) in the 1990s and calls himself “The Michael Jackson of Jewish music,” was sentenced yesterday to one to three years in prison for stealing $36,000 from a fan, according to the Daily News. The victim, 55-year-old Judy Burstein, gave Streicher the…
-
Abe Elenkrig and Tupac Shakur, Together At Last
Abraham Elenkrig was a trumpeter, a barber, and the bandleader of Abe Elenkrig’s Yidishe Orchestra, one of the very first outfits to record klezmer music in America. Though considered something of a secret treasure by klezmer connoisseurs, Elenkrig has never really gotten his due. Last week, however, the Library of Congress made Elenkrig’s 1913 rendition…
The Latest
-
Jackie Mason Will Likely Skip His Daughter’s New Play
In 1987, comedian Jackie Mason anticipated the title of his 1996 Broadway show, “Love Thy Neighbor,” by fathering a child with playwright Ginger Reiter (best known, according to TheaterOnline, for the play “Pickles,” based on their 10-year affair). The product of that union is about to tell her own side of the story, The New…
-
Sarah Palin’s Holocaust Rhetoric
Ever since her first appearance in the national spotlight, Sarah Palin has garnered mild affection from the Jewish community for her frequent shout-outs to Israel (especially via Twitter and Facebook) and critiques of President Obama’s policies in the Middle East, most recently regarding the flotilla incident. But her social media war against Obama’s policies has…
-
Comedian Who Made Anti-Semitic Comment: I Was Intoxicated
David Fane, a New Zealand comedian, achieved international notoriety this week after making grossly anti-Semitic remarks on Wednesday at a media event in Auckland. (Making offensive remarks to a room full of media types: not recommended.) He later claimed to have been intoxicated. According to a report in The New Zealand Herald, Fane, who was…
-
Moving to a Movement
From June 27-29, dozens of Jewish LGBT organizations gathered in Berkeley, CA for the first-ever “LGBT Jewish Movement-Building Convening.” Gabriel Blau, a conference participant and the founder of GayGevalt, has been blogging about the gathering for The Shmooze. You can read his previous posts here and here. We’re into the last day of the convening…
-
Boris Cyrulnik and the Art of Creative Disobedience
Born in 1937, the French neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik has long been a media darling for his insights into such varied subjects as workplace violence, the wonders of nature, and scientific/technological progress in general. Although Cyrulnik’s public advice is sometimes leavened with lighthearted whimsy, his utterly serious understanding of the importance of psychological resilience, or surviving…
-
Mordecai Richler: Canada’s Firebrand in Fiction
The Canadian Jewish novelist and gadfly Mordecai Richler, who died in 2001, was renowned internationally for books such as “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,” “The Street,” “Solomon Gursky Was Here,” and an anthology, “Writers On World War II,” all available from Penguin Canada. Yet Richler’s fiercely outspoken personality seems to fascinate posterity as much as…
-
When Saul Became Paul
Saul of Tarsus, a first century Pharisee, supposedly came to believe in Jesus while traveling to Damascus. Changing his name to Paul, he expressed “unparalleled animosity and hostility to Judaism,” according to the 1906 Jewish Encyclopaedia, which scorns him, like many other sources, as an apostate. Yet today, Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer of Pennsylvania’s Reconstructionist Rabbinical…
-
Proliferating Jewish Fiction Online
Jewish Fiction. net is a new, online journal of Jewish fiction currently accepting submissions of original work and translation for its premiere issue. The Arty Semite recently chatted with Nora Gold, the journal’s Toronto-based founder and editor, about why we need a new Jewish literary journal, what Jewish Fiction. net hopes to achieve, and what…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go
- 2
News What a Mayor Mamdani would mean for New York Jews
- 3
Fast Forward Mamdani tells Colbert — and a national audience — why NYC Jews shouldn’t fear him as mayor
- 4
Opinion Mamdani’s victory is an opportunity for Jews to relearn the art of disagreement
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Let Bibi go,’ ‘Make the deal in Gaza’: Trump renews Israel demands in social media posts
-
Fast Forward ‘Death to the IDF,’ punk band chants at Glastonbury ahead of Kneecap set
-
Fast Forward Swedish far-right party apologizes for its past links to Nazis and antisemitism ahead of elections
-
Fast Forward Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand calls on Zohran Mamdani to denounce ‘globalize the intifada’ following primary win
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
