In the days leading up to Tisha B'Av, and as the anniversary of the 2005 Gaza withdrawal draws near, Israel once again stands at a historic crossroads. We can continue down the path of hesitation and half-measures, or we can finally do what history and security demand: restore Jewish communities in Gaza.

This is not a radical notion. It is the necessary response to the horrors of Oct. 7. Gaza is part of the Land of Israel, and rebuilding Jewish life there is the only way to force Hamas to pay a concrete and lasting price for its crimes.

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Long before oil transformed the Arabian Gulf, skyscrapers rose over Manama, and the Abraham Accords brought Israel and Bahrain into open diplomatic partnership, Jews were already part of the region's story.

Their presence in Bahrain reaches back well over a millennium, to a time when the Gulf was a crossroads of trade, travel and faith. Indeed, to understand the importance of Bahrain's Jewish community, one must first remember that the term "Bahrain" once referred not only to the modern island kingdom, but to a broader region along the eastern coast of Arabia.

Jewish sources, Arabic accounts and medieval travel literature all point to a Jewish presence in that wider Gulf area long before Islam.

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In the middle of the 19th century, one of the most influential men on the southern Pacific island of Tahiti was a Jewish merchant named Alexander Salmon (originally "Solomon").

He was not a rabbi, communal leader or scholar. Nor did he come from one of the great centers of Jewish life in Europe or the Middle East. Born in 1820 in Hastings, England, Salmon would travel across the globe and settle in Tahiti.

Eventually, this English Jewish merchant married into Tahitian royalty, became a trusted adviser and secretary to the ruling dynasty and left an imprint on the island that is still remembered today.

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At a time when Israeli soldiers are fighting and dying to defend the country, Knesset members from Shas and United Torah Judaism recently sought to advance legislation that would have defined Torah study as a form of national service equivalent to serving in the IDF.

Following public criticism and objections from within the governing coalition, the proposal has now reportedly been revised.

While the bill's sponsors may have intended to bring honor to one of Judaism's most sacred values, the fierce public backlash demonstrates how easily efforts to legislate the status of Torah study can become entangled in political controversy.

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On a quiet street in Asmara, Eritrea's capital, stands a striking synagogue that seems almost frozen in time.

Its doors remain closed most days. The pews are largely empty. The voices that once filled the sanctuary with prayer have long since faded away. Inside, original Torah scrolls, Italian-era plaques and rows of wooden benches still stand. They appear to be waiting for a congregation that left but never returned.

Yet the building endures, serving as a silent witness to a remarkable and largely forgotten chapter in Jewish history.

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