This year, Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) in Charleston, South Carolina celebrates its 275th anniversary. Menachem Wecker delves into the synagogue’s architecture and the history of the local Jewish community:

Sitting in the voluminous sanctuary of KKBE across the aisle from Mark Swick, executive director of the congregation, is an exercise in self-restraint to focus on the conversation and not the arresting interior. Light pours in through colorful stained-glass windows, many with biblical themes. Some depict Noah’s ark, perhaps a nod to the merchants drawn to the city’s ports. An apparent depiction of the burning bush is damaged, a kind of echo of the 1794 synagogue building’s destruction in an 1838 fire that destroyed many city blocks.

KKBE boasts of being the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the nation. Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island, is older but hasn’t been used continuously. The first Jews arrived in Charleston in the late 17th century—largely Sephardi merchants drawn to the city’s seaport and its unusual hospitality toward Jews, among others. By 1749, KKBE was formed, building its first synagogue 45 years later.

The current Greek Revival building draws on classical Greek architecture while suspending a dome—a distinctly ancient Roman feature—underneath the roof, according to an informational video that plays in the sanctuary for visitors. The elegant ark and interior suggested that Judaism, an older tradition, surpassed the best of Greece and Rome, per the video.

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.