In his short life, Isaac Luria (1534–1572) managed to become one of the most consequential figures in the history of Jewish religious thought, cultivating a novel approach to kabbalah that became immensely popular among rabbis from Iran to Amsterdam and that had a profound role in shaping Hasidism as well as both Ashkenazi and Sephardi liturgical practices. Luria wrote very little; it was his disciples who put his teachings on paper. Like many of his contemporaries, he held no official rabbinic position but supported himself through his business endeavors.

Those endeavors are the subject of a rare letter in his own hand, found in the Cairo Genizah. Ben Outhwaite describes this document:

Luria . . . spent most of his working life in Egypt, mainly in Cairo. . . . According to Lawrence Fine, Luria supported himself through trading in “pepper, wine, cucumbers, wheat, and leather”—for which, all bar the cucumbers, we have documentary evidence.

The letter is interesting for the simple details it records about the business activities of the mystic and sage, but also for the colorful Hebrew language in which he communicates them. Luria doesn’t refer to “summer” and “winter,” but to the seasons of heat and the “mightiness of rains.” A relative’s marriage is celebrated in proverbial terms, and he wishes his business associate to “ride upon the heights of prosperity.” He’s polite and witty, and using Hebrew from a variety of sources, even in a run-of-the-mill business communication. Ultimately, from reading this, the impression I get is that it’s a shame that he didn’t write more in his lifetime, since he was evidently a talented writer in Hebrew.

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.