In the middle of the 19th century, before modern Zionism or Eliezer Ben-Yehuda’s quixotic effort to revive the language of the Bible, Russian Jews began publishing Hebrew newspapers. One such publication, Ha-Magid, employed Henry Vidaver, the rabbi of a St. Louis, Missouri synagogue, as its American correspondent. In honor of Lincoln’s birthday, David Geffen recounts some of Vidaver’s dispatches from the fateful year of 1865:

“The end of the month of April. . . . From the time I sent you my last dispatch, mighty acts has God performed, which could be readily seen in the eyes of the citizenry of this country. . . . Who can fathom the secrets of God, and who can know his plans? Suddenly, a strong voice is heard in the land that General Lee, the Confederacy commander-in-chief, had surrendered to General Grant, the Northern commander-in-chief. . . . When the announcement was made that Richmond had fallen, great was the joy of the North, but the entire nation, in its enthusiasm, shouted out ‘Heydad, heydad’!”

The joy, described earlier, did not last long, as can be seen in the continuation of Vidaver’s story. “A voice was heard wailing! Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States, has been assassinated by a murderer who lay in wait for him in the theater.”

Vidaver then described how Lincoln and his family had come to the theater to celebrate with citizens of the nation. “But a man came from behind the curtains and shot Lincoln in his forehead and killed this tsaddik.”

Vidaver’s own synagogue in St. Louis was packed with men, women, and children, Christians as well as Jews. “I spoke in English, expressing our anguish for the death of this great leader.”

If there is to be peace, Palestinians will have to unlearn the hatred of Israel they have imbibed during nearly two decades of Hamas rule. This will be a difficult task, but Cole Aronson argues, drawing on the experiences of World War II, that Israel has already gotten off to a strong start:

The population’s compliance can . . . be won by a new regime that satisfies its immediate material needs, even if that new regime is sponsored by a government until recently at war with the population’s former regime. Axis civilians were made needy through bombing. Peaceful compliance with the Allies became a good alternative to supporting violent resistance to the Allies.

Israel’s current campaign makes a moderate Gaza more likely, not less. Destroying Hamas not only deprives Islamists of the ability to rule—it proves the futility of armed resistance to Israel, a condition for peace. The destruction of buildings not only deprives Hamas of its hideouts. It also gives ordinary Palestinians strong reasons to shun groups planning to replicate Hamas’s behavior.