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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No More Chulent?
“Where’s the Love?… That’s it — goodbye?” were Isaac Schonfeld’s words after realizing that he may have played his last hand in negotiations with the Millinery Center Synagogue Board. Schonfeld and his anti-institution, “Chulent,” have been on serially monogamous terms with the Synagogue on and off for over four years now. As well as providing…
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Robert de Niro and Christiane Amanpour Bring Arabs and Jews Together
The Tribeca Film Festival 2010 gathers pace. On Thursday night, at the Japan Society Queen Noor of Jordan and TFF founder Jane Rosenthal introduced the new film, “Budrus” (to be reviewed in next week’s Forward) from Julia Bacha and Justvision. That mixture of Jewish and Arab representation was the feature of an evening attended by…
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Making Cheerleading Unsexy, One Team at a Time
There is more than one game being played on the basketball court of Hapoel Jerusalem. Of course, the floor sees its share of basketball, but the secondary game is a battle of wits between the religious and secular elements of society — and the pawns in the game are the cheerleaders. Ah, cheerleaders, known less…
The Latest
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Mitch Albom: Writer, Ivory Tickler
Shut your books and rock. If you’re the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band made up of “really famous authors” — as the band’s Web site boasts, not inaccurately — you’ll agree with that statement. At least this week, during the 2010 Wordstock tour, you will. Jewish member Mitch Albom recently made rabbis look good according…
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Artur Schnabel: Great Pianist, Biting Wit
Artur Schnabel (1882 –1951) is universally recognized as the one of the finest 20th century musicians, expressing uncommon emotional depth and spirituality as a pianist. (One teacher famously told him: “You will never be a pianist. You are a musician.”) Born the son of a Jewish textile merchant in Lipnik, Moravia (then part of Austria),…
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Leonard Nimoy Boldly Goes Into Retirement
Leonard Nimoy will live long and prosper…elsewhere. After 60 years of orbits in the acting universe, particularly as Spock on “Star Trek,” the actor is hanging up his pointy ears and opting for retirement. At 79, and after four decades of work as a Vulcan, he says he’s done. There will be no Nimoy in…
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April, the Poetry Month: Some Highlights
“April,” famously wrote T.S. Eliot in “The Waste Land,” “is the cruellest month.” Despite this underwhelming endorsement, the Academy of American Poets inaugurated April as the National Poetry Month back in 1996 and, every year since, has hyped up a surge of readings, publications and all other things poetry-related. In the Jewish world, the initiative…
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Conflict Jewelry: ‘My Israel’ Necklace Stirs Debate
A tiny map of Israel is making a big statement. The “My Israel” necklace, designed by Israeli artist Elanit Leder, features a charm shaped like the country, but with a large chunk conspicuously missing: the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The politically charged jewelry, available in gold, silver and gold-plated silver, is being sold in…
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Photographer Gerda Taro, Out of the Shadows at Last?
The German Jewish photographer Gerda Taro (born Gerta Pohorylle in Stuttgart, to a family of Polish Jewish origin) has long been overshadowed by her companion, the legendary photographer Robert Capa. However, that may soon change. Taro (1910- 1937) was the first female war photographer, capturing powerful images of the Spanish Civil War, and was sadly…
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Jewish Feminist Singer Lesley Gore: From the ‘60s to Today
Fans of feminist Jewish pop song will not want to miss Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein in 1946) at New York’s Joe’s Pub on April 22 or at one of her upcoming concerts around the country. From her earliest hits, like 1964’s defiant “You Don’t Own Me,” Gore was at once independent, self-assured, and…
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Sex-Ed Lockdown
Remember your old Hebrew school curriculum: Jewish ethics, Jewish history, Jewish laws and customs, Talmud Studies, Jewish sex? …Jewish sex? Right, there was no Jewish sex. But this past weekend, Houston-area high schoolers had the rare opportunity to talk shop — that is, talk sex — from a Jewish perspective. The overnight retreat, “There’s Only…
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Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Zohran Mamdani once said mayoral candidates should pledge to boycott Israel. Now that he’s running, he’s not so forthcoming.
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News CAMERA, pro-Israel media watchdog, fires longtime CEO, spurring public acrimony
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Yiddish אַ קורס וועגן די ייִדישע דיאַלעקטן אינעם אַלטן ייִשובֿA course about the Yiddish dialects of the ‘Old Yishuv’
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Opinion Don’t be grateful two hostages’ bodies were recovered. Be furious.
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