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The Schmooze Passover, "Les Mis" Style
“Les Miserables” is an epic tale of suffering, oppression, and one man’s quest to find himself. Is it just me, or have we heard that story before? No, sadly, Victor Hugo was not a secret Jew. But Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, who wrote the lyrics of the famous musical, are. Schönberg was born in…
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The Schmooze Obama/Bibi Video…Set to Golden Girls Theme Song
The Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. is really excited about Obama’s trip to Israel. So excited, that they made an animated bobble-head video set to theme from “Golden Girls” to tell us about it. Bibi and Barry, just like Rose and Blanche. This is possibly even more insane than the Obama mustache meme, but it’s…
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Fast Forward Daniel Pearl Murder Suspect Nabbed in Pakistan
Pakistan has arrested a former militant leader in connection with the 2002 murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, security officials said on Monday. Qari Abdul Hai, once a leader of the outlawed Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), was arrested on Sunday during a security crackdown in Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, said the officials….
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Fast Forward Barack Obama To Pay Homage to Jewish History, Avoid Settlement Debate in Israel
President Barack Obama will embrace Jewish history while skirting the morass of West Bank settlements when he visits Israel this week – a selective itinerary laden with diplomatic signals. The tour, running from Wednesday to Friday, is meant to warm Israelis to the cool-tempered, second-term Democratic leader who is prodding their rightist prime minister, Benjamin…
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Fast Forward European Doctors Blast American Report That Recommended Circumcision
Thirty-eight physicians from Europe have written a paper alleging that “cultural bias” was behind the pro-circumcision stance of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The commentary, published on March 18 on the website of the U.S.-based Pediatrics journal, disputes a report which the American academy on children’s health published in August, which states that “benefits of…
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News Bibi and Me
Twenty-nine years have passed since Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and I last exchanged glances in that Manhattan hotel room at the Regency. Now that he’s commencing a third term as Israel’s prime minister — a record matched only by founding father David Ben-Gurion — I can’t help but reminisce. Twenty-nine years, and not one phone call…
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The Schmooze 7 Actors for ‘Ten Commandments’ Remake
At Passover-time, only one thing is as constant as the dry taste of matzo: the inevitable reruns of “The Ten Commandments.” While I have tremendous respect for the immovable classic, and Charlton Heston (or Old Stoneface, as he’s affectionately known in my family), 56 years is a good long run. It’s time for a change….
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News Passover Is Time for Gluten-Free Gluttony
Drawing on her last reserves of energy, Merilyn Papernick, a terminal cancer patient, reached out to some local Hasidic Jews in her hometown of Toronto to place a special Passover order: Could they get her gluten-free oat matzo for the upcoming holiday? Papernick, who was 65, suffered from celiac disease, a digestive illness that prevented…
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Holy Ground A Jewish farmer broke ground on a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield. His neighbors showed up to help.
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Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
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Culture An Israeli genocide scholar looks to Israel’s history to understand ‘what went wrong’
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
In Case You Missed It
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News Remembering Abe Foxman, the longtime ADL leader known as the ‘Jewish pope,’ who always answered my calls
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Fast Forward Michael Jackson biopic revives legend of Jewish music mogul who battled MTV’s ‘color barrier’
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Fast Forward DOGE’s cuts to Jewish humanities grants were unconstitutional, judge rules
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Fast Forward As anti-LGBTQ laws spread, these two Jewish nonprofits are funding moves to safer states