In 586 BCE, the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple in Jerusalem. Seventy years later, Jews returning from exile rebuilt it with the permission of the Persian monarchs. The Second Temple remained standing until 70 CE, when the Romans razed it along with the rest of Jerusalem. Since then, the Third Temple has become synonymous with the messianic future. Itzchak Tessler interviews the scholar Yonatan Moss about the moment when history came close to taking a different direction:

[O]n July 19, 362, the Roman Emperor Julian arrived in the city of Antioch (now in southern Turkey). Despite being in the midst of a military campaign against the Persians, the emperor found time to meet with the Jewish community leaders in the city and asked them why they did not offer sacrifices like their ancestors. The Jews replied that their Temple had been destroyed, and in response, the emperor granted them permission to rebuild it and renew the sacrificial offerings.

“Emperor Julian had a personal interest in this matter,” explains Moss. “He was born in 331, shortly after the Roman imperial policy shifted from persecuting Christianity to tolerating and favoring it. He was raised as a Christian within the Christian imperial family, but upon reaching adulthood, he rediscovered the traditional Roman religion of his ancestors.

“According to the Christian writings of that era,” [Moss adds], “Julian . . . wanted to demonstrate to Christians that one of Jesus’ central prophecies, which foresaw the destruction of the Temple with not one stone left upon another, was incorrect. Julian sought to rebuild the Jewish Temple and to show that the Jews would return to their land. Furthermore, he aimed to emphasize that not only was he reviving the practice of live animal sacrifices, which had weakened with the establishment of Christianity, but also that the Jews were returning to their ancient practice of offering such sacrifices. He also abolished the fiscus Judaicus, a tax imposed on Jews in the Diaspora to support the Sanhedrin’s institution in the Land of Israel.”

The project was halted because of an earthquake, and stopped permanently by Julian’s death later the same year, which was followed by the empire’s reversion to Christianity.

Israel’s goals of freeing the hostages and defeating Hamas (the latter necessary to prevent further hostage taking) are to some extent contradictory, since Yahya Sinwar, the ruler of the Gaza Strip, will only turn over hostages in exchange for concessions. But Jacob Nagel remains convinced that Jerusalem should continue to pursue both goals:

Only consistent military pressure on Hamas can lead to the hostages’ release, either through negotiation or military operation. There’s little chance of reaching a deal with Hamas using current approaches, including the latest Egyptian proposal. Israeli concessions would only encourage further pressure from Hamas.

There is no incentive for Hamas to agree to a deal, especially since it believes it can achieve its full objectives without one. Unfortunately, many contribute to this belief, mainly from outside of Israel, but also from within.

Recent months saw Israel mistakenly refraining from entering Rafah for several reasons. Initially, the main [reason was to try] to negotiate a deal with Hamas. However, as it became clear that Hamas was uninterested, and its only goal was to return to its situation before October 7—where Hamas and its leadership control Gaza, Israeli forces are out, and there are no changes in the borders—the deal didn’t mature.