Abbas and Netanyahu shake hands at the State Department.

Jason Reed-Pool/Getty Images

• Today’s direct talks went well: President Abbas agreed to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s U.S.-backed proposal to meet every two weeks (starting on September 14 in the Mideast). I’ll have more on all this tomorrow. [Politico]

• The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research has already found upwards of 15,000 volumes in Chaim Grade’s old apartment. [Arts Beat]

• Forward cartoonist Eli Valley discusses his life and work. [The Comics Journal]

• Christopher Hitchens further elaborates on the topic of praying (and not praying) for him. [VF]

• Reza Aslan and Bernard Avishai call on President Obama to do all in his power to prevent Israel from taking military action against Iran. [IHT]

• Buzz Bissinger asks: Who are the two Jewish pitchers who won the Cy Young Award? Peruse his whole feed to find the answer. [@buzzbissinger]

The late, great Harvey Pekar.

Wikipedia

We learn much about the final days of comics writer Harvey Pekar (whom Vanessa Davis graphically eulogized in Tablet Magazine) from a New York Times feature. When he died in July, I noted that among Pekar’s final works published while he was still alive was his column, written by him and drawn by Tara Seibel, in the most recent Jewish Review of Books. In fact, Seibel, a 37-year-old artist based in Pekar’s Cleveland, plays a prominent role in the article, as Pekar’s wife, Joyce Brabner, apparently clashed with her and, even more, resented her and her husband’s relationship (which by all accounts did not cross any red lines).

The Times reports:

Ms. Seibel made no secret of her admiration for the pioneering comic work of Mr. Pekar, whom she described as “a 70-year-old hipster who loved listening to the Beastie Boys in the car.” In turn he provided her with stories that she illustrated for publications like Chicago Newcity, The Austin Chronicle and The Jewish Review of Books.

Ms. Seibel was also one of four artists whom Mr. Pekar invited to work on the Pekar Project, which starting in 2009 was an effort to translate his work and persona to the Internet. …
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Eric Molinsky

On next week’s Vox Tablet podcast (which we’re actually posting tomorrow so you can enjoy it over Labor Day weekend), host Sara Ivry goes a-wandering through the century-old Mount Carmel Cemetery with Andy Bachman, the rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn. Together, they talk about how shifts in American Jewish life are playing out in our attitudes toward death and burial. It’s a heavy conversation at times (as befits the High Holiday season), but it has its share of lighter moments as well, like this digression into television references to the afterlife.

The video for our friends The Macaroons’ “Apples and Honey” dropped today. (“Dropped.” Look at me, talking like the youth.) Check out the delightful song, which I think sounds like Matthew Sweet (thus dating myself yet again), and the charming video, which is sure to entertain your tykes this holiday season. And please note the brief appearance of Lady Gala: Just like her namesake, she wears no pants!

You can also come see the band in concert (and say hi to me! I’ll be introducing them!) on September 26th, at 11 am, at the Tablet Magazine/JDub/Congregation Beth Elohim Sukkot street fair in Park Slope, Brooklyn (on Garfield Place between 8th Avenue and Prospect Park West).

Navid Shirazi, who actually attends West Beverly in the new show.

90210pedia

Today is National 90210 Day (check your calendar), which is only an official holiday for those of who grew up watching Beverly Hills, 90210 and thinking it was an accurate representation of life on the West Coast. When I moved to Los Angeles in 2004 after college, I learned that Beverly Hills High, which the original hit Fox show was based on, was actually populated by Persian Jews, not WASPs from Minneapolis à la Brenda (Shannon Doherty) and Brandon (Jason Priestly).

Though the rebooted version of the series, which airs on the CW, does include an Iranian character, Navid Shirazi (pictured!), back in the old days the Tribe was represented solely by Andrea Zuckerman, who, naturally, was smart, nerdy, and had curly hair and glasses. She was the editor of the school newspaper and came from “wrong” (read: Lower-middle-class) side of the tracks, and was played by the Jewish actress Gabrielle Carteris, who though tasked with playing a high school sophomore was actually old enough to lie about her age on JDate (had it existed).

Also Jewish in real life but less obviously so on the show were Ian Ziering, who played the superficial ladies’ man Steve Sanders, and, of course, Tori Spelling, who played the virginal Donna Martin. Spelling earned the role based on talent alone; it had nothing to do with her father, the show’s producer, Aaron Spelling.

In the seaside suburb of Tel Aviv where I grew up, there were few insults more devastating to a young man’s pride than being called a fan of Hapoel. My friends and family all rooted for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel’s chief rival. Maccabi is the soccer team of champions: With gold-and-azure jerseys, a Star of David for an emblem, and a name that evoked the proud warriors of Jewish antiquity, we had no doubt that the Maccabis were the ones to follow. Hapoel, by contrast, literally means “the worker”; add to that the red shirts and the socialist ties (check out its logo), and you have a young, zealous Zionist sports fan’s worst nightmare.

But last week, as I heard of Hapoel Tel Aviv’s advancement to the prestigious group stage of the UEFA Champions League—the annual tournament that pits Europe’s 32 greatest clubs against each other—I was delighted to discover that the silly prejudices of my youth have faded away. I was thrilled for Hapoel, and proud to see an Israeli soccer club enjoy such a sensational achievement.
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Today in Tablet Magazine, investigative reporter Peter Lance has a blockbuster showing that the murder of ultra-nationalist Meir Kahane in New York in 1990 may have been backed by al-Qaida. Music columnist Alexander Gelfand profiles Galeet Dardashti, whose music is inspired by her Persian Jewish heritage. Part 5 of Toby Perl Freilich’s documentary on the kibbutz movement drops. The Scroll has plenty of material to work with between peace in the Middle East and Top Chef.

“Amanda left yesterday,” Kevin helpfully reminds us. “I didn’t think she’d make it this far.” So there are no more Jews, but as long as Top Chef D.C. goes on, so will these round-ups. And we have, like, three or four more episodes in D.C. to go. Right, guys?

Wrong! “There’s one more challenge in D.C., before the finale,” someone says. Wait, what? They’re leaving D.C.? Have they really run out of gimmicky political and indelibly local things to do? (Realizes they’ve done The Palm, the C.I.A., Capitol Hill, Ethiopian food, the Chesapeake Bay, Nationals Stadium, and even Bethesda.) Okay, fair enough. You have to watch a bit more to find out where they are headed after this episode, though. Or you could just keep reading.
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