In places like Fraley Field, Shiloh Church, the Hornet’s Nest, and the Peach Orchard, both armies dueled one another only to end up where they began the night before the battle began.

In the rich panorama of Jewish history, few distinctions are as profound as that between Shiloh and Jerusalem. The Mishna in Megillah (1:11) presents us with an intriguing puzzle: “The sole ...