Tonight begins the saddest day of the Jewish year, the day we commemorate the two times that the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

It is said that the destruction of the second Temple was brought about by baseless hatred.

I keep thinking that we are taught to remember history to avoid repeating it — and yet the self-destructive forces sweeping through Israel today can be couched in the same terms; ultra Orthodox Jews hating secular Jews, and vice versa.

It feels as though a third destruction is happening before our eyes. I pray that it does not destroy the Israel that we cherish.

Tonight as Tisha B’Av begins we will light candles and sit on the floor and chant Lamentations, as we do every year. This year I am lamenting much more than the loss of ancient Temples.

I am lamenting the loss of balance, the loss of appreciation of the many ways one can be Jewish. It has been a delicate balance until now, tilting sometimes this way and most times that way. But today it is being utterly destroyed and I have begun to lose hope.

So tonight I will sing Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem whose name means “the hope,” and I will hope and pray and continue to speak out for the Israel that I love.