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Marking two years after that mass murder of the events of October 7th, an event that profoundly impacted Jewish communities worldwide unlike anything else since the creation of the Jewish state.

Within Jewish communities the event proved shocking. For Israel as a nation, the situation represented deeply humiliating. The whole Zionist movement was founded on the assumption which held that the nation would ensure against similar tragedies repeating.

A response appeared unavoidable. Yet the chosen course Israel pursued – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the killing and maiming of many thousands ordinary people – was a choice. This particular approach complicated the way numerous Jewish Americans understood the October 7th events that precipitated the response, and it now complicates their remembrance of that date. In what way can people honor and reflect on a tragedy against your people during a catastrophe experienced by another people connected to their community?

The Complexity of Remembrance

The challenge in grieving stems from the circumstance where there is no consensus as to the implications of these developments. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, the recent twenty-four months have seen the breakdown of a decades-long consensus regarding Zionism.

The beginnings of Zionist agreement across American Jewish populations extends as far back as a 1915 essay authored by an attorney who would later become Supreme Court judge Louis D. Brandeis titled “The Jewish Problem; Addressing the Challenge”. However, the agreement became firmly established subsequent to the six-day war during 1967. Earlier, US Jewish communities maintained a delicate yet functioning coexistence between groups holding a range of views concerning the necessity for a Jewish nation – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Background Information

Such cohabitation continued throughout the post-war decades, through surviving aspects of leftist Jewish organizations, in the non-Zionist Jewish communal organization, among the opposing American Council for Judaism and comparable entities. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Zionism was more spiritual instead of governmental, and he prohibited singing the Israeli national anthem, the Israeli national anthem, at religious school events during that period. Furthermore, Zionism and pro-Israelism the main element for contemporary Orthodox communities until after the six-day war. Alternative Jewish perspectives remained present.

But after Israel routed neighboring countries during the 1967 conflict during that period, taking control of areas comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, US Jewish connection with Israel evolved considerably. Israel’s victory, coupled with enduring anxieties regarding repeated persecution, resulted in a growing belief regarding Israel's vital role for Jewish communities, and a source of pride for its strength. Discourse about the extraordinary quality of the outcome and the “liberation” of territory gave the movement a religious, even messianic, significance. During that enthusiastic period, considerable previous uncertainty toward Israel disappeared. During the seventies, Writer Norman Podhoretz declared: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The unified position excluded Haredi Jews – who generally maintained a Jewish state should only emerge via conventional understanding of redemption – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and most secular Jews. The most popular form of the unified position, identified as liberal Zionism, was based on the conviction about the nation as a progressive and free – albeit ethnocentric – state. Many American Jews considered the control of local, Syrian and Egypt's territories after 1967 as provisional, assuming that a resolution was forthcoming that would maintain Jewish population majority within Israel's original borders and Middle Eastern approval of the nation.

Two generations of US Jews grew up with support for Israel a fundamental aspect of their Jewish identity. The nation became a central part of Jewish education. Yom Ha'atzmaut turned into a celebration. Blue and white banners were displayed in many temples. Seasonal activities integrated with Hebrew music and learning of contemporary Hebrew, with Israelis visiting educating American youth Israeli customs. Travel to Israel expanded and peaked via educational trips during that year, offering complimentary travel to the nation was provided to US Jewish youth. The nation influenced almost the entirety of the American Jewish experience.

Evolving Situation

Interestingly, in these decades after 1967, US Jewish communities became adept at religious pluralism. Open-mindedness and communication among different Jewish movements expanded.

Except when it came to the Israeli situation – there existed diversity ended. You could be a conservative supporter or a liberal advocate, but support for Israel as a Jewish homeland was assumed, and challenging that perspective categorized you outside mainstream views – an “Un-Jew”, as Tablet magazine labeled it in writing in 2021.

However currently, during of the devastation of Gaza, famine, dead and orphaned children and frustration about the rejection of many fellow Jews who refuse to recognize their complicity, that consensus has collapsed. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer