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Marking two years after that mass murder of October 7, 2023, an event that shook global Jewish populations more than any event following the creation of the Jewish state.

For Jews the event proved shocking. For the Israeli government, the situation represented deeply humiliating. The entire Zionist movement had been established on the belief that Israel would prevent such atrocities repeating.

A response seemed necessary. Yet the chosen course Israel pursued – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the casualties of tens of thousands of civilians – represented a decision. And this choice complicated how many US Jewish community members grappled with the initial assault that triggered it, and presently makes difficult the community's remembrance of that date. In what way can people honor and reflect on a horrific event against your people in the midst of devastation done to another people attributed to their identity?

The Complexity of Remembrance

The challenge in grieving stems from the fact that there is no consensus about the significance of these events. Indeed, within US Jewish circles, the last two years have experienced the collapse of a fifty-year unity regarding Zionism.

The early development of Zionist agreement within US Jewish communities dates back to a 1915 essay written by a legal scholar who would later become high court jurist Louis D. Brandeis titled “The Jewish Question; Finding Solutions”. Yet the unity became firmly established after the 1967 conflict in 1967. Earlier, US Jewish communities housed a vulnerable but enduring coexistence between groups that had a range of views concerning the requirement for Israel – Zionists, neutral parties and opponents.

Historical Context

That coexistence persisted through the 1950s and 60s, within remaining elements of leftist Jewish organizations, through the non-aligned Jewish communal organization, in the anti-Zionist Jewish organization and other organizations. For Louis Finkelstein, the leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Zionism was more spiritual rather than political, and he did not permit singing the Israeli national anthem, the Israeli national anthem, at JTS ordinations in those years. Nor were Zionist ideology the main element of Modern Orthodoxy until after the six-day war. Different Jewish identity models coexisted.

However following Israel overcame adjacent nations in that war during that period, occupying territories including Palestinian territories, Gaza, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish perspective on Israel changed dramatically. The triumphant outcome, coupled with persistent concerns of a “second Holocaust”, produced a growing belief in the country’s critical importance within Jewish identity, and generated admiration regarding its endurance. Rhetoric concerning the extraordinary quality of the outcome and the freeing of land gave the Zionist project a spiritual, almost redemptive, significance. During that enthusiastic period, considerable the remaining ambivalence regarding Zionism vanished. In that decade, Publication editor the commentator declared: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Agreement and Restrictions

The Zionist consensus left out strictly Orthodox communities – who largely believed Israel should only emerge via conventional understanding of the messiah – however joined Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and nearly all secular Jews. The common interpretation of this agreement, what became known as left-leaning Zionism, was founded on the idea regarding Israel as a democratic and free – while majority-Jewish – country. Many American Jews viewed the occupation of Palestinian, Syrian and Egypt's territories following the war as not permanent, assuming that a resolution was imminent that would guarantee a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and regional acceptance of the nation.

Several cohorts of American Jews were raised with support for Israel an essential component of their Jewish identity. The nation became a central part within religious instruction. Israeli national day turned into a celebration. Blue and white banners were displayed in religious institutions. Youth programs became infused with national melodies and learning of contemporary Hebrew, with Israelis visiting instructing American teenagers national traditions. Trips to the nation increased and reached new heights through Birthright programs during that year, offering complimentary travel to the nation was provided to Jewish young adults. The state affected virtually all areas of US Jewish life.

Evolving Situation

Interestingly, in these decades after 1967, Jewish Americans developed expertise in religious diversity. Tolerance and dialogue across various Jewish groups increased.

However regarding the Israeli situation – that represented tolerance found its boundary. You could be a rightwing Zionist or a progressive supporter, however endorsement of the nation as a majority-Jewish country was assumed, and challenging that perspective positioned you outside mainstream views – an “Un-Jew”, as Tablet magazine labeled it in writing recently.

However currently, amid of the destruction within Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and frustration over the denial by numerous Jewish individuals who refuse to recognize their responsibility, that unity has broken down. The centrist pro-Israel view {has lost|no longer