4 | AUGUST 4 • 2022 

PURELY COMMENTARY

for openers
A Whole Lot of 
Back and Forth

column
Riding the Bus while Jewish

H

ere’s the wind-up 
and the pitch … and 
it’s a home run! 
For those of you who are 
sports fanatics, those words 
are familiar. For 
others of us, the 
concept of the 
throw and catch 
is also familiar 
as revealed 
by the many 
expressions 
using those 
terms that we employ daily.
Hearing some unexpected 
news may throw you a curve 
and may throw a monkey 
wrench into your plans. But 
before you throw in the towel 

(or the sponge, on a smaller 
scale), plan to throw a party, 
a get-together. This will 
show that the “news” did not 
completely throw you for a 
loss.
Are you familiar with 
people who like to throw 
their weight around? (No, I 
am not talking about those 
fitness fanatics.) Well, do not 
be cowed by their throwing 
caution to the wind. Without 
throwing cold water on the 
problem, throw some light 
on the situation in such a 
way that no one throws a fit. 
(Never present your ideas as 
a throw-down!)
When you catch wind of 

something, as you catch up on 
the news of the day, be sure to 
ask, “What’s the catch?”
Try not to let folks catch 
you off guard or catch you 
off balance. However, do not 
expect to catch a break if you 
are caught red-handed.
On vacation, you may 
catch sight of a great beach 
area on which to catch some 
rays (sun). Do not overdo 
it. Because if you decide to 
catch some shut-eye — 40 
winks or some Zs — and 

then the weather changes, 
you may catch a cold. Go 
home; wrap up in a fleece 
throw and catch up on your 
rest.
Let me end by throwing 
out this advice: The early 
bird catches the worm, but 
that diet will never catch on 
for humans and may make 
you throw up. (Definitely 
have your kids read How to 
Eat Fried Worms by Thomas 
Rockwell. You will enjoy it, 
too.) 

Sy Manello 
Editorial 
Assistant

A

nother day, another 
stabbing.
Doesn’t it seem like 
that has become the standard 
news from Israel? It’s all too 
easy to fall 
into the trap 
of getting used 
to recurring 
violence and 
treating it as 
something 
routine, starting 
to think “That’s 
just how it is,” and then 
turning the page or changing 
the channel.
But the recent stabbing in 
Jerusalem, like every terrorist 
attack, had unique elements 

and lessons that deserve a 
closer look.
Let’s start with the site of 
the attack. It was on a civilian 
bus, making its ordinary stops 
along the streets of Israel’s 
capital city. As it reached one 
of them, a Palestinian Arab 
man suddenly stabbed a 
Jewish passenger.
Pause right there. Mideast 
“experts” and J Street types 
are always claiming that Jews 
provoke Arab violence. How, 
exactly, did this bus passenger 
provoke the stabber?
The victim was not 
establishing a settlement. He 
wasn’t “occupying anybody.” 
He wasn’t “obstructing peace.”

Civil rights activists in the 
United States have coined the 
term “driving while Black” 
to describe unjust arrests of 
African American motorists. 
I guess the victim on the 
Jerusalem bus didn’t realize 
that to some Palestinian 
Arabs, it’s a crime to ride a 
bus while Jewish.
The Jerusalem Post and 
other Israeli media agencies 
published a photograph of the 
blood-stained weapon lying 
on the ground after the attack. 
It was a screwdriver.
A screwdriver is not nearly 
as sharp as a knife. In order 
to stab somebody, the attacker 
would have had to use much 

more force than if he had 
used a sharp blade. And, of 
course, in order to carry out 
any kind of stabbing attack, 
the terrorist has to be within 
inches of his victims.
I’m pointing this out 
because it’s important to 
recognize something about 
the psychology of stabbers. A 
terrorist who plants a bomb 
in a movie theater never sees 
his victims at all. A terrorist 
who shoots people with a rifle 
or machine gun doesn’t have 
to look into the eyes of the 
people he is trying to murder. 
But this screwdriver terrorist 
had to be right up against the 
person he was stabbing.

continued on page 6

Stephen M. 
Flatow
JNS.org

