The Weekly Schmooze: The Pursuit of Jappiness

A 'Jpost' column wrapping up the hottest Jewish culture news worldwide: Drake says he's the best Jew ever; are Snickers anti-Semitic?

By LAHAV HARKOV
weekly schmooze 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
weekly schmooze 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Rappers are known for bragging about the amount of money they make and the female fans
they attract, but hip-hop star Drake has claimed a new superlative for himself: Best Jew. When faced with TMZ photographers, who asked him who's a better Jew, he or the gossip site's founder, Harvey Levin, the rapper answered that he's "one of the best Jews of all time." 
Speaking of Jews and hip-hop, a few students at the University of Michigan decided to write an ode to Jewish American Princesses to the tune of Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness." The video name-checks the JAP uniform of puffy North Face jacket, Ray-Ban sunglasses, leggings and Uggs, and rhymes "Petron on the rocks" with "bagel and lox."
This past week has been a bit of a Barbra Streisand love-fest. First, she was honored as person of the year by MusiCares, the charity run by the Grammys, where she was serenaded by Broadway and "Glee" stars alike. Then, at Sunday night's Grammys, she gave an acclaimed performance of the song "Evergreen."
Of course, no mention of Streisand would be complete without the singer-actress who has been crowned as her successor, Lea Michele. The two finally met after the Grammys, and
Michele, the star of "Glee" who has sung quite a few Streisand numbers on the show, tweeted: "I can't believe I just met my idol!"
Last week, the Schmooze posted a Super Bowl video featuring Jewish comedians Roseanne Barr and Richard Lewis. Lewis is shown kvetching about hard labor in a lumberyard, until he eats a Snickers bar and is transformed into presumably non-Jewish lumberjacks.
Since then, writers from the satire site Politically Illustrated wrote an article and opened a Facebook group claiming that the candy bar hates Jews. Thought the group's founders seem to be kidding (they posted a picture of Hitler with a caption saying "I hate Jews, but I love Snickers") some of the group's members seem to actually be offended. Watch the commercial, and see for yourself.
If you ever get confused about the weekly Torah portion, G-dcast has a solution for you. This site has simple cartoons about each week's Parsha, so you can prepare yourself before going to synagogue (or not) this Shabbat. This week, we have an easy-to-follow rendering of the story of the Golden Calf, in Parshat Ki Tisa.
The Weekly Schmooze collects the hottest Jewish culture news from around the world. Ranging from celebrities to philanthropy to quirky communities, we're here to schmooze about Jews.
If you have any news to share with The Weekly Schmooze, write to: weeklyschmooze@gmail.com