4 | SEPTEMBER 1 • 2022 

for openers
PURELY COMMENTARY 
W

e are surrounded 
daily with many 
shapes. The 
square of a house; the round-
ness of the Earth. (I have 
recently been 
forced to face 
the fact that the 
Earth is actually 
round! Wow!)
Our aware-
ness often 
translates into 
expressions in 
our conversa-
tions. Consider angles and 
arcs, for instance, as they are 
hidden in our vocabulary.
A beautiful bracelet, for 
example, a bangle, may have 
charms that make it jangle 
as it dangles from your wrist. 
(What did you have to do 
to wangle that from your 
spouse?)

Technologically advanced? 
Not I! I am greatly intimi-
dated by newfangled things. 
At times I’d like to strangle 
inventors.
Have you known folks who 
mangle the language? Ugh! 
They need to wrangle some 
lessons.
Have you tried to disentan-
gle a child’s hair? That is a 
challenge.

Many university buildings 
were built around a 
quadrangle to give a unity 
to the structures. That 
plan is often supported by 
archaeology. (Do you see 
that clever segue?!) Multiple 
shapes are abundant in 
architecture.
When tracing your family 
tree, you may encounter the 
prominence in the hierarchy 

of a matriarchy or patriarchy 
or even find that you a 
related to an archduke or 
even a monarch. Maybe you 
need to employ an archivist 
to aid you.
If you into exploring, try 
visiting the arctic or some of 
the many archipelagoes on 
our globe. Perhaps you may 
wish to draw some of your 
observations; try charcoal.
There is a demarcation 
of proper behavior; be 
observant. Do not let social 
climbing become a narcotic. 
For inspiration, remember 
“The Star-Spangled Banner;” 
no, I am not being sarcastic.
If your conversational 
ability is getting rusty, you 
need to shape up, line up 
topics and structure some 
interesting talk. 

The Shape 
 of Things

Sy Manello 
Editorial 
Assistant

essay

When Jew Hatred Is Relative
T

here’s an old joke 
about two guys on 
a camping trip who 
see a bear heading in their 
direction. The first guy starts 
to panic, but the second guy 
calmly begins to lace up his 
sneakers.
First guy: “Are 
you crazy? You 
can’t outrun 
that bear.”
Second guy: 
“No, but I can 
outrun you.”
The point is 
that everything is relative. 
In a week during which 
Palestinian Authority 
President Mahmoud Abbas 
once again attempted to 
minimize the horrors of 
the Holocaust, we were 

reminded that even the 
so-called “moderates” in the 
Palestinian leadership are not 
that moderate. It’s all relative.
His shameless insults 
reminded us that the 
path to peace is far more 
complicated than either the 
Abraham Accord advocates 
or J-Streeters would have us 
believe.
Over years of fitful peace 
negotiations in the region, 
we have accepted that 
Abbas is more pragmatic 
than Hamas’ leaders. And 
two weeks ago, during 
Abbas’ news conference 
with German Chancellor 
Olaf Scholz in Berlin, we 
re-learned an old lesson that 
in the Middle East, the most 
reasonable leaders aren’t very 

reasonable at all.
Abbas, who took over 
for the less moderate 
Yasser Arafat in 2005 and 
has canceled presidential 

elections for the past 13 
years in order to remain in 
office, has been attempting 
to diminish the import and 
impact of the Holocaust for 

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority, 
speaks to the media in Berlin, Aug. 16, 2022.

SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES

Dan Schnur
JNS.org

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