We are in the midst of the 40-day period of teshuva, when we work to “return” to the better angels of our nature through intensified self-reflection. The process began on the first of Elul and extends through Yom Kippur, the 10th of Tishrei.
These 40 days parallel Moses’ return to Mount Sinai to receive the second set of tablets following the Golden Calf incident. Moses, our teacher, at 80 years old, literally models teshuva when, after the first tablets- the pinnacle of his life’s work to that moment – lie shattered at his feet, and he returns to again ascend Mount Sinai.
Though we are all with Moses on top of the mountain during these 40 days, I often imagine I am alone with him. I find the thought comforting as I, as we, confront the uncomfortable.
That process is not reduced to these 40 days. Throughout the year, three times a day in the weekday Amidah (“standing”) prayer, we ask for forgiveness for we have sinned. On Shabbat, though, we instead read the words of the prophets in the Haftarah: harsh criticism of Israel then, that makes some UN resolutions against Israel look half-hearted! That brings us to the question of the criticism of Israel for the destructive and lethal war in Gaza. All of this takes place within the stark reality of 700-plus days after the horrors of October 7, the ongoing fear, missile attacks, and terror in Israel, and the inhumane incarceration of the hostages.
Should Israel listen to such criticism? Why is the Israeli government so dismissive of criticism coming from so many corners of the earth? As stated above, self-criticism is a hallmark of Judaism. Why, then, is there reluctance to listen to criticism hurled at Israel over its war conduct?
How does Israel-Hamas War affect antisemitism in the West?
There are a number of causes. The first is the concept of “a shame before the nations.” That fear we have long held if someone does something wrong, and they are Jewish, it will justify all Jews as bad in the eyes of non-Jews and rationalize the hate, persecution, and harm we have too long and too often experienced. By extension, that fear can also be applied to the Jewish state. To that point, criticism of Israel for its policies in Gaza and the West Bank has been used to justify anti-Jewish activities around the world.
Related, there is the world’s uber focus on Israel’s transgressions compared to the infractions of the rest of the world. Criticism of Israel is called for, but that criticism is extremely one-sided against the Jewish state, correlated to the injustices happening in other parts of the world – as the number of U.N. resolutions against Israel attests. In 2024, the UN General Assembly adopted 17 resolutions against Israel and only six resolutions on the rest of the world.
WHERE IS the mention, for example, of the Chinese oppression of its Muslim population or its brutal occupation of Tibet since 1950? Some in the United States say their tax dollars fund Israel, so there is a need to speak up. That may be the case, but at the same time, Americans purchased $439 billion in goods directly from China in 2024, considerably more than the $23 billion that Israel gets in aid from the United States. By doing so, Americans help fund that dictatorship directly from their own pockets, over which they have more control than where their tax dollars go.
The lopsided focus on Israel only confirms for many a serious and worrisome bias against the Jewish state, making it easy to dismiss criticism of Israel even if there is a valid critique. The rest of the world needs to understand that there are negative consequences for its proclivity when it comes to criticism of the Jewish state. That orientation must change.
The world must improve how it holds Israel’s enemies accountable and not give them a pass for incitement, glorification of violence, and the blood on their hands. At the same time, the failure of the world to be judicious regarding Israel should not be used as an excuse for Israel not to listen to what iy must hear. Israel and its supporters need to learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff.
During war, there is the universal call for unity, to rally around the flag and present a united, and therefore stronger, front. Nations also do this so that those who are sent into harm’s way, as well as their families, feel they have the full support of their country, so that their sacrifice is not in vain.
A slogan during the Vietnam War, “America, Love It or Leave It,” telegraphed the view that if you opposed the war you were unpatriotic. As important as support of war is within a society, dissent during war can also play a vital role, as thousands of Israelis remind us, week after week.
External criticism of Israel that may be credible is too often woven with elements that do not have the best interests of the Jewish state or the Jews in mind, and so it is dismissed. That puts greater weight on the necessity for the traditional internal Jewish critique.
The month of Elul profoundly reminds us to place ourselves in the challenging mindset to “Help me face the questions I wish to avoid! Help me accept truths that do not comfort!... Meet me, God, as I journey on it.”
Elul is our annual rendezvous with Moses on top of Mount Sinai as we take extra stock of who we are through a process called heshbon nefesh – literally, “accounting of the soul,” whose reflection includes examining what we did well and where we fell short. Every day this month we read the words, “Be strong and courageous” (Psalm 27:14).
Those words help sustain us in war, just as they also guide us to confront our conduct in war. Elul demands that we not shy away from the difficult questions that cannot be avoided in any war, no matter how justified it may be.
The writer is a Reconstructionist rabbi who works for the Friends of the Arava Institute and teaches at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura and at Bennington College. The opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and are not meant to reflect any organization with which he is affiliated.