One of the leading journalists of the Hebrew and Yiddish press, Hillel Zeitlin (1871-1942) experienced a religious awakening midway through his life, returning to the strict observance and regular Torah study of his youth. Despite this personal change, Zeitlin’s journalistic career continued unabated. He remained very much part of the largely secular Warsaw Jewish intelligentsia even as he wrote frequently on religious themes, often displaying a strong mystical inclination. Sam Glauber translates and examines his 1922 essay “On the Depths of Being”:

The second [section of the essay] is an imaginary dialogue between Zeitlin and one who desires to have faith in God, although he feels himself unable to come to it. It does not take much imagination to realize that Zeitlin’s interlocutor is himself at an earlier period of his life, as he sought for many years to recover the lost faith of his youth. Zeitlin’s answer is chilling in its simplicity: there is no path to faith other than faith itself. Pressed to offer a solution to this paradox, Zeitlin surprisingly states that the initial source of faith (emunah) is denial (kfirah)—which can also be rendered “heresy.”

Through denying all theories and doctrines, one empties himself of all notions and turns to God. Zeitlin’s God is a personal God, whose presence is achieved through individual experience, not through any doctrine which could be defined or communicated [in words]. Zeitlin’s [approach] is likely influenced by the writings of Lev Shestov, the Russian mystic who was the subject of a monograph published by Zeitlin the same year.

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.