Today is the beginning of the Hebrew month called Elul, which marks just one month to Rosh Hashanah.

Usually, I use Elul as a contemplative time, a time of introspection and preparation for the emotional, spiritual, and (for a working rabbi) physical experiences to come.

This year however, I’m entering into the month in a different mindset entirely. I’m angry. I’m frustrated.

Why? Because I am shocked by what is taking place in Israel right now, much of which does not bode well for the rights of women.

The ultra-orthodox right is asserting itself in ways that are unacceptable. Just last week, a group of teenage girls wearing tank tops boarded a bus and were forced to sit in the back, huddled under their beach towels to hide their bodies. On another bus, an elderly woman asked a bus driver for assistance. He pointedly ignored her. When asked why, he said, “I don’t speak to women.”

This is Israel, not Saudi Arabia. A minority of the populace has taken the nation by the throat, thanks to a prime minister who is in power only because he has given the the far right an outsized influence.

It’s not just women who are suffering. Violence against Palestinians is on the rise, and the government turns a blind eye, or worse, gives tacit approval.

This is a first for me. I never speak out against Israel. I know it is not perfect, but neither is the United States. I believe these two nations, flaws and all, serve as examples of democracy at its best. But something has gone terribly wrong in Israel.

I’m just one person, horrified and shocked by what is happening in a place that I love. I feel helpless and even worse, hopeless.

Rabbi Andrea Weiss said, “Elul is a bridge between who we are, and who we want to be.”

If that is so, I can only pray that the current Israeli government comes to its senses and listens to the thousands upon thousands of Israelis who have taken to the streets in protest over the past several months.

We think of democracies as strong, unassailable. We learned differently when our own democratic process was physically attacked on January 6th. We withstood the attack, and we are standing strong again. I hope it will be the same for Israel.