The Weekly Schmooze: Tweeting about Osama

A 'Jpost' column wrapping up the hottest Jewish culture news worldwide: Anti-Semitism and soccer; Israel's Weekend Update.

By LAHAV HARKOV
weekly schmooze 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
weekly schmooze 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
British comedian David Baddiel is trying to battle anti-Semitism on the football pitch in a new film called The Y-Word. The film asks soccer fans not to chant the word "Yid" or "Yiddo" at the London-based team Tottenham Hotspurs' games. Spurs fans often call themselves "Yids" as a badge of pride – the team plays in a historically Jewish neighborhood, thus the nickname – but supporters of opposing teams have been known to yell "f**k the Yids" and sing "Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz – Sig Heil!" Here's the video:
On the other side of the pond, in New York, another video campaign is underway to dispel negative stereotypes about Orthodox Jews. Mayim Bialik, who played the title character in the early 90s sitcom "Blossom" and currently portrays Amy Farrah Fowler on "The Big Bang Theory" is promoting a new project called "Jew in the City." The site features a series of comedic YouTube videos starring Bialik's friend Allison Josephs that answer questions about Orthodox Jews, including juicier ones like "Why do Orthodox Jews have so many kids? Is birth control allowed?" and "Is it true what people say about Orthodox Jews and the hole in the sheet?" (NO, it is not. People really shouldn't be asking that question anymore.) Bialik is hosting a fundraiser, where she will discuss being religious on the set of a hit TV show, in Teaneck, NJ, home to a large Orthodox population.
If you haven't been reading The Jerusalem Post every day to keep up on the news – and shame on you, if you haven't – there's a new way to stay up to date: The Israeli Show. This weekly online roundup of headlines coming out of Israel has a hilarious, cynical take on the news, mimicking "Saturday Night Live"'s Weekend Update:
What does your favorite Jewish children's book say about you? That is the question that Tablet Magazine sought to answer this week, offering a fun quiz for its readers. The Schmooze chose Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, and the answer wasn't entirely inaccurate. To find out what your favorite book says click here.
It's not very often that an Israeli actor is in the number one film in America, but this week Fast Five, a movie featuring Miss Israel 2004 Gal Gadot, grossed $83.6 million at the box office. In the fifth installment of The Fast and the Furious film series, Gadot reprises her role from the previous film, Gisele Harabo, the former leader of a Mexican drug cartel turned informant for the Mossad. You can see her show off her pageant-winning assets at 1:24 in this trailer:
Do you like matza ball soup? If not, there's no reason to be shy about it anymore. Food writer Josh Ozersky went public as a self-hating Jewish gourmand in Time last week. "Jewish food is awful," he says in an article titled "The Kugel Conundrum," referring to Ashkenazi classics like brisket, lokshen kugel and herring in cream sauce, "a food so vile in appearance it could turn a glutton anorexic overnight." Ozersky looked in a number of Jewish cookbooks for answers, but could not find an explanation. He did, however, commend Israel's zaatar-infused cuisine.

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The biggest news of the week was, of course, that Osama Bin Laden is dead. Jewish comedians had plenty to say on the matter taking to Twitter to comment. Here are some of the funniest tweets:
•    Michael Ian Black: I can't wait to find out who the newest supervillian is.
•    Joan Rivers: Everyone is thrilled that Bin Laden is dead, except of course the 72 virgins who all just said "I have a headache."
•    Alec Sulkin: You know Dan Rather has said "Osama Bin Laden is dead" in the mirror at least twice today.
•    Albert Brooks: All day long I've been thinking that it took 10 years to catch one guy. What if we get invaded by triplets?
•    Judd Apatow: Bin Laden is dead. You're welcome.
•    The Daily Show: Abbottabad sounds like the fictional place where New Yorkers would have loved to kill Bin Laden.


If you have any news to share with The Weekly Schmooze, write to:weeklyschmooze@gmail.com


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Mayim Bialik