The Weekly Schmooze: Knaidel, Kim and Kanye

Jewish culture news worldwide: Jewish Princess of Long Island get a reality show; Kim Kardashian makes kibbutzniks millionaires.

JUNE 6, 2013 16:03

weekly schmooze 311 (photo credit: Courtesy) — weekly schmooze 311

(photo credit: Courtesy)

Knaidel or kneydel? The question has the Yiddish-speaking word up in arms, after Arvind V. Mahankali won the Scripp's National Spelling Bee in the US last Thursday with the word for everyone's favorite addition to chicken soup. The New York Times got on the case, and found that the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research prefers the second spelling, while the Webster's Third International Dictionary, the spelling contest authority, uses the first. Author Dara Horn weighed in on the debate, too, connecting the accepted English spelling (knaidel) to the death of Yiddish. Maybe they should have just asked Mahankali him to spell matzo ball, instead. A few days after the spelling bee, by the way, the 13-year-old spelling champ tried his first knaidel at the Carnegie Deli in New York.

Speaking of people who like Manischewitz products, Bravo, home of the Real Housewives, has gathered some JAPs for its latest show: Princesses Long Island. The show revolves around six women in their twenties who live in their parents' lavish homes and hope to marry rich. The show premiered this week with an episode titled "You Had Me at Shalom," the stars use Yiddish words like "ferklempt," drink arak and Manischewitz wine and fall down while drunkenly singing "Hava Nagila." Check it out:

American Apparel CEO Dov Charney was never one to shy away from controversy, and his company has done it again. The clothing shop has a formaldehyde-free line of nail polishes, and the black one is named "hassid," to the dismay of some bloggers.

The Women of the Wall are gathering again on Friday, where they're expected to be met by haredi protesters. At least Sarah Silverman has their back. The comedian's sister, Rabbi Susan Silverman participates in the Women of the Wall's monthly prayer at the kotel together with her daughter Hallel. Sarah Silverman tweeted this photo this week:

#ihaveadream #womenofthewallMy niece, the kickass @purplelettuce95 say.ly/fmU5XYW
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) June 4, 2013

Anyone worried about the BDS movement, should know that Kim Kardashian is making great strides in bringing business to Israel. The reality star built a quartz kitchen for herself and the father of her baby, Kanye West. According to Globes, the quartz comes from Kibbutz Sdot Yam, one of the world's largest manufacturers of quartz-based kitchens. Since Kardashian placed the order the kibbutz's business has been booming, and every one of its families has $1.3 million.

The Schmooze has been posting many, many Lonely Island videos lately, but hey, two out of three of them are Jewish, they have an album coming out, and they post a new clip weekly. This week, though, we don't have a song, but a photo shoot. The Lonely Island guys – Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone – hung out with Weird Al Yancovic, even putting on wigs and mustaches to look like the musical parody king.