A RELIGION OR A RACE?:

Until recently, American rabbis have rarely criticized Israel, mostly because any critique is bound to offend members who view the country reverently. Many American Jews see Israel as core to their spiritual identity and pray for Israel's security at every Shabbat service. They visit frequently and fund various causes in the country through charitable donations.

These commitments have begun to waver since late December, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assembled a governing coalition that was anchored by ultranationalist parties. Its first bid was to take greater control of the judiciary, passing a law in July that limits the Israeli Supreme Court's ability to overturn decisions made by the government.

Thousands of Israelis have flooded the streets in weekly protests exhorting crowds against the government and what they see as a grave challenge to Israel's democracy.

But Brous identified the source of the tumor growing in Israel's government as the 56-year occupation of Palestinian lands, which many of the government's ministers believe were promised to Israel by God. 

"Many of us have spent years trying not to look," Brous said of the occupation, in part because Jews feared any criticism of Israel would fuel rising antisemitism. But Jews, she told her congregation, can be victimizers as well as victims.

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