The synagogue at Dura-Europos—an ancient city in what is now eastern Syria and was then the frontier between the Roman and Sassanian empires—is thought to have been built in the 2nd or 3rd century CE and is one of the oldest synagogues ever discovered, as well as one of the best preserved. Although the synagogue itself has reportedly been destroyed by Islamic State, its elaborate wall paintings of biblical scenes, arranged in three rows (or “registers”) are in a Damascus museum and have been photographed extensively. Jo Milgrom and Yoel Duman explicate a series of these paintings drawn from the book of Ezekiel, which they understand as an artistic “midrash” on the corresponding passages:

Unlike the middle register of paintings in the Dura Europos synagogue, all of whose pictures deal with the Ark of the Covenant and the Temple, the lower register contains a variety of separate scenes whose unifying theme is elusive. The paintings that have survived include: scenes from the life of Elijah, the Purim story, the anointing of David, the saving of the infant Moses, and episodes from the book of Ezekiel.

Some have suggested that miraculous survival is the central theme of the register; others have mentioned rebirth and resurrection. But in each case, the suggestions do not account for all the paintings. As a result, we propose that the underlying motif of this register is “unexpected reversal of fortune that leads to triumph,” in which God’s presence is sometimes overt and at other times implied. It is significant that this register is at the congregation’s eye level, and therefore serves as a continuous subliminal message.

We have here two examples of children, destined for greatness, who are saved from imminent death (baby Moses and the son of the widow of Zarefat [revived by Elijah in I Kings 17]). We have examples of the defeat of the many idolaters by the few faithful (Elijah against the prophets of Baal and the fall of Jerusalem’s apostates [Ezekiel 9]). We have the startling choice of David, Jesse’s youngest son, over his older brothers and in place of Saul, as the new king of Israel; and we have Mordecai’s triumphant parade led by the foiled Haman through the streets of Shushan. And finally, we have the vision of the valley of dry bones.

While it is commendable that administrators of several universities finally called upon police to crack down on violent and disruptive anti-Israel protests, the actions they have taken may be insufficient. At Columbia, demonstrators reestablished their encampment on the main quad after it had been cleared by the police, and the university seems reluctant to use force again. The school also decided to hold classes remotely until the end of the semester. Such moves, whatever their merits, do nothing to fix the factors that allowed campuses to become hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism in the first place. The editors of National Review examine how things go to this point:

Since the 10/7 massacre, Columbia’s Jewish students have been forced to endure routine calls for their execution. It shouldn’t have taken the slaughter, rape, and brutalization of Israeli Jews to expose chants like “Globalize the intifada” and “Death to the Zionist state” as calls for violence, but the university refused to intervene on behalf of its besieged students. When an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside Columbia’s library, it occasioned little soul-searching from faculty. Indeed, it served only as the impetus to establish an “Anti-Semitism Task Force,” which subsequently expressed “serious concerns” about the university’s commitment to enforcing its codes of conduct against anti-Semitic violators.

But little was done. Indeed, as late as last month the school served as host to speakers who praised the 10/7 attacks and even “hijacking airplanes” as “important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”

The school’s lackadaisical approach created a permission structure to menace and harass Jewish students, and that’s what happened. . . . Now is the time finally to do something about this kind of harassment and associated acts of trespass and disorder. Yale did the right thing when police cleared out an encampment [on Monday]. But Columbia remains a daily reminder of what happens when freaks and haters are allowed to impose their will on campus.