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The Schmooze Will Sean Penn Play a Jewish Gangster?
Sean Penn may play Jewish again. But this time, the role couldn’t be further from his Oscar-winning performance as the late civil-rights pioneer Harvey Milk. The 51-year-old thesp, reports Deadline.com, has been offered the role of notorious L.A. mobster Mickey Cohen in “Gangster Squad,” a crime drama to be directed by Jewish “Zombieland” helmer Ruben…
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The Schmooze Gwyneth Paltrow’s Got Rabbinic Roots
For Gwyneth Paltrow, Kabbalah isn’t just a passing fad. The actress (and sometimes singer), who will appear on this Friday night’s episode of NBC genealogy series “Who Do You Think You Are,” discovered that her great great great grandfather was Kabbalah master Tsvi Paltrowitch. Documents describe Paltrowitch, the Gaon of Nitzy in Russia, as “a…
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The Schmooze Jewish Students Flock to Lutheran College
There’s a kosher menu at the student union. Jewish Theological Seminary is one of its academic partners. And its Hillel House is growing fast. But Muhlenberg College is “a small Lutheran school erected around a soaring stone chapel with a cross on top,” as The Associated Press described it in a report yesterday. And the…
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The Schmooze Liz Taylor Fashionably Late to Her Own Jewish Funeral
Even as she made her final exit, Elizabeth Taylor knew how to make an entrance. At the star’s request, Taylor’s funeral began 15 minutes past schedule yesterday in California, London’s Daily Mail reported. “She even wanted to be late to her own funeral,” the paper quoted her publicist as saying. Presided over by a rabbi,…
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Food Expanding the Definition of Jewish Food, One Rice Ball at a Time
Homemade inari sushi, mandle bread, rice balls, spicy edamame, hamantaschen, and rice crispy treats. If there was anything incongruous about the offerings at the recent bake sales for Japan earthquake relief at Brandeis Hillel Day School, a pluralistic Jewish day school in San Francisco, no one seemed to notice. The mix of Jewish, Japanese and…
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The Schmooze Man Who Blogs About Hasidic Neighbors Wins in Court
A Montreal blogger who’s raised the hackles of his Orthodox neighbors in Montreal’s Outremont district scored a victory against a Jewish businessman who’d been seeking a restraining order against him. CTV reports that Pierre Lacerte’s blog, Accommodements Outremont, has “created tension on his street” by “chronicling what he perceives as bylaw violations from Outremont’s Hasidic…
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The Schmooze Helen Thomas Talks Israel, Jews to Playboy!
Nearly a year after the scandal that ended her epic run as a White House correspondent, Helen Thomas has re-emerged to share more thoughts about Israel and Jews – specifically, that they’re “wonderful,” but also that they wield too much money and power. “[They are] using their power, and they have power in every direction……
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The Schmooze Jewish Geisha Takes on Manhattan Bar
Geishas, the Japan Guide web site explains, “are professional entertainers who attend guests during meals, banquets and other occasions…. Their role is to make guests feel at ease with conversation, drinking games and dance performances.” And, according to a front-page story in this week’s Village Voice, they can also be Jewish. In her first-person account…
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
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Opinion How Israel became a country where teenagers murder each other in cold blood
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Sports NBA coach Steve Kerr: ‘Israel sought revenge for Oct. 7 and now 72,000 Palestinians have been killed’
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Film & TV A new documentary challenges stereotypes about Orthodox Jewish women — and their wigs
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Support for Iran war among ‘connected’ US Jews falls again, poll finds
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Yiddish אַ פֿאָלקסטימלעכע שטימונג אויפֿן אַמסטערדאַמער ייִדיש־סימפּאָזיוםA folksy approach to this year’s Yiddish symposium in Amsterdam
דער שוועדישער פֿאַרלעגער ניקאָלײַ אָלניאַנסקי האָט דערציילט ווי ער האָט אָנגעהויבן אַרויסגעבן קינדערביכלעך אויף ייִדיש.
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Books A New Jersey congregation was already falling apart. Then came Oct 7.
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News Most Jewish voters rate Mamdani poorly, new poll finds