Completed in 1906, after construction was stalled multiple times by the tsarist authorities, Moscow’s Choral Synagogue remains one of Russian Jewry’s most impressive works of architecture. During the Soviet era, it was one of very few synagogues permitted to function at all. Benyamin Goldschmidt, whose father became the congregation’s rabbi in 1993—only two years after the end of Communism—reminisces about bearing witness to the revival of Judaism in the city:

Even as a young child, when I passed through the towering white columns of the Choral Synagogue and then entered through the huge wooden doors—which I couldn’t open without the assistance of an adult—I knew it was a building of great historical significance. After all, it was not just a synagogue. It was the only overt symbol of Judaism that had withstood 70 years of Communism. From Lenin to Stalin to Gorbachev, the synagogue’s doors remained open—mostly for show, by government decree, but open nevertheless.

During the first few years, there was always suspicion among Jews—everyone suspected everyone else of collaborating with the KGB. . . . When my father first [arrived], a man walked over to him and pointed out someone in the shul, saying, “Young rabbi, be careful. That man is part of the KGB!” As soon as he left, the other man came running to my father and said, “Rabbi, the man you just spoke to is a KGB informant!” I asked my father whom he believed, and he said, “I believed them both.” Even long after the KGB stopped tracking every person who walked into the building, its long shadow remained.

In the main sanctuary, there used to be a closed wooden box with a few seats. They say it was built for Golda Meir, who visited the synagogue as the ambassador to the Soviet Union of the newly created state of Israel. The authorities didn’t want her to mingle with local Jews, so they had to build her a separate section in the shul, which was later used by other foreign visitors. Meir’s visit wasn’t publicized, yet the silent Jews of Moscow spread the news by word of mouth, one by one. When she arrived, 50,000 Jews had congregated, waiting to catch a glimpse of her. Meir later said it was one of the two most important moments of her life.

On one occasion, Goldschmidt recalls, a congregant hushed him for speaking during prayers, and an elderly woman came to his defense: “Don’t you dare shush the child! I waited for 70 years for children once again to make noise in shul.”

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.