Salo Wittmayer Baron was the first person to hold a chair in Jewish history at an American university and the author of numerous groundbreaking studies in the field. In an essay first published in 1989, he tells the story of his passion for collecting books, and how he assembled his enormous private library, most of which now resides at Stanford University:

As a child of four (in 1899) in Galicia I was introduced to the study of the Bible and its various interpreters. Less than two years later my father paraded me before relatives and friends as a student of the Talmud together with its commentaries. At the same time I excelled in mathematics and the game of chess. . . .

Soon thereafter the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905) introduced me to the world of journalism. I began to devour every page on that subject in the Polish, German, and Hebrew newspapers and magazines that arrived at our home. For some reason, when I was about nine years old, I became an admirer of the British empire. For hours I would pore over a map, figuring out how many days it would take to travel by ship from London to Sydney, for example. . . .

But not until I was a teenager did I become a passionate buyer of books. Both of my parents had been book-lovers. My mother had a good general knowledge of Polish and German literature, which she cultivated throughout her life. She also spoke French fluently. With her aid I learned to buy books by mail, especially from major German booksellers. Since I received a small weekly allowance from my parents, I established at the age of fourteen or fifteen a regular exchange with one particular book dealer in Berlin, who sent me his catalogues; from them I would choose one or more items. Later he would choose one or two recently arrived titles that he knew would be of interest to me. He sent them directly to me with the understanding that I could return them, in case I found them less than desirable. In this way I assembled quite a collection of German and later also Hebrew books. This marked the beginning of my book-collecting mania.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.