Through two shattered windows: What kind of Jewish home do we want to be?

Within days, windows were smashed at two Reform synagogues in Jerusalem and Ramat Hasharon, following a series of attacks on Reform communities across the country. The column examines the meaning of these events against the backdrop of the Elul month's soul-searching and the upcoming elections, asking what place pluralistic Judaism has in the Jewish-Israeli home.

Within days, windows were smashed at two Reform synagogues in Israel: at the "Kol HaNeshama" community in Jerusalem, a window was broken, a pride flag was torn down, and a piece of art was vandalized; a window was also broken at the "Derech Noam" community in Ramat Hasharon. These events join a series of attacks over the past year and a half, including graffiti, tearing of Israeli flags, assaults on participants at events, and stone-throwing at synagogues during Shabbat prayers. The column, by Anna Kislansky, argues that it is difficult to see this sequence as just a collection of local incidents, and that it compels us to ask what is happening to the space of belonging in the Jewish-Israeli home. The writer notes that these phenomena do not occur in a vacuum, and when ministers and Knesset members turn a non-Orthodox religious stream into a term of abuse, a message is sent that goes beyond the permissible. Ahead of Rosh Hashanah and the elections, the column poses the question of what kind of country we seek to be and what face Israeli Judaism will have.