As one of the most prominent scholars and theologians of the Massachusetts Bay colony, Cotton Mather (1663–1728) was the author of some 469 books. Among them was Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion, or, The Character and Happiness of a Virtuous Woman: in a Discourse Which Directs the Female-Sex how to Express the Fear of God in Every Age and State of Their Life and Obtain Both Temporal and Eternal Blessedness. Stuart Halpern considers Mather’s use of the eponymous heroine of the book of Esther, a book often neglected by Christians:

In Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion, Mather . . . brings up Esther multiple times. The first is in praise of the women of his era, whose “beautiful countenance” does not preclude their “good understanding.” . . . Mather then invokes Esther as a paradigm for women, who should demonstrate resolve and integrity in the face of suspicious husbands, refusing to upset the patriarchal order.

And yet, Mather saw in the biblical Esther a woman of independent action to be admired. . . . She is a “good conqueror” who obeys rules but is spiritually independent of her husband [King Ahasuerus], providing him with salvation. Looking past figures in the Christian tradition including Mary, Mather offered his fellow Puritans a heroine from the Hebrew Bible who modeled a willingness to stay faithful unto death, to overcome challenges and adversity, and to provide salvation for others.

Ornaments was not the last time Mather would meditate on Esther. His magnum opus, Biblia Americana, the first biblical commentary written in America, . . . recapped the story and provided the scholarly interpretations current in Mather’s time. In it, Mather cites, among his many sources, the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, [the midrashic works] M’khilta, Pirkey d’Rabbi Eliezer, and Seder Olam Rabbah, [the ancient Aramaic translation of] Onkelos, the Zohar, and [the medieval commentaries of] Saadia Gaon, Rashi, Abraham ibn Ezra, David Kimḥi, Moses Naḥmanides, Moses of Coucy, Levi Gersonides, Baḥya ben Asher, Obadiah Seforno, and Isaac Abravanel, remarking that “the writings of the rabbins [sic] are often very helpful to us.” . . . Strikingly, however, very little [of Mather’s commentary] centered on Esther herself.

This interpretation of Esther and the legacy of her actions, however, misses the true significance of her story. When Esther is called upon by Mordechai, it is not, as Mather offers in his Ornaments of the Daughters of Zion, to prevent the destruction of her husband but to risk everything to provide salvation for her nation.

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.