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Marking two years after the mass murder of the events of October 7th, which profoundly impacted world Jewry unlike anything else following the founding of the Jewish state.

For Jews it was shocking. For Israel as a nation, the situation represented deeply humiliating. The entire Zionist movement had been established on the belief which held that the nation would ensure against such atrocities repeating.

Some form of retaliation seemed necessary. However, the particular response that Israel implemented – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the killing and maiming of numerous of civilians – represented a decision. This particular approach created complexity in the way numerous US Jewish community members grappled with the attack that triggered it, and currently challenges their commemoration of that date. How can someone grieve and remember an atrocity targeting their community while simultaneously an atrocity done to another people in your name?

The Challenge of Mourning

The complexity surrounding remembrance lies in the reality that no agreement exists about the implications of these developments. Indeed, within US Jewish circles, this two-year period have seen the breakdown of a half-century-old unity on Zionism itself.

The beginnings of pro-Israel unity across American Jewish populations dates back to an early twentieth-century publication written by a legal scholar subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis called “The Jewish Question; Finding Solutions”. But the consensus really takes hold after the six-day war that year. Earlier, Jewish Americans housed a fragile but stable cohabitation across various segments holding diverse perspectives about the requirement for Israel – Zionists, neutral parties and opponents.

Historical Context

That coexistence continued through the 1950s and 60s, within remaining elements of Jewish socialism, through the non-aligned US Jewish group, in the anti-Zionist religious group and other organizations. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the head of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Zionist movement was more spiritual than political, and he forbade performance of the Israeli national anthem, the Israeli national anthem, at JTS ordinations in the early 1960s. Additionally, Zionist ideology the main element within modern Orthodox Judaism until after the six-day war. Different Jewish identity models existed alongside.

However following Israel overcame its neighbors in that war during that period, taking control of areas comprising the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish perspective on the country underwent significant transformation. The triumphant outcome, combined with longstanding fears about another genocide, led to a growing belief about the nation's critical importance to the Jewish people, and generated admiration regarding its endurance. Discourse regarding the extraordinary quality of the success and the “liberation” of territory assigned Zionism a theological, even messianic, importance. In that triumphant era, much of previous uncertainty regarding Zionism disappeared. In that decade, Commentary magazine editor the commentator declared: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Agreement and Restrictions

The pro-Israel agreement did not include Haredi Jews – who typically thought Israel should only be ushered in via conventional understanding of redemption – but united Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and most secular Jews. The predominant version of the unified position, identified as liberal Zionism, was founded on the idea in Israel as a democratic and liberal – though Jewish-centered – state. Countless Jewish Americans saw the occupation of local, Syria's and Egypt's territories after 1967 as provisional, believing that a solution was forthcoming that would guarantee Jewish demographic dominance in Israel proper and regional acceptance of the nation.

Multiple generations of American Jews were thus brought up with pro-Israel ideology a fundamental aspect of their religious identity. Israel became a key component in Jewish learning. Israeli national day turned into a celebration. Blue and white banners were displayed in religious institutions. Youth programs became infused with national melodies and education of the language, with Israeli guests educating American youth Israeli customs. Visits to Israel grew and reached new heights with Birthright Israel in 1999, providing no-cost visits to the country became available to Jewish young adults. Israel permeated virtually all areas of US Jewish life.

Evolving Situation

Interestingly, throughout these years after 1967, US Jewish communities became adept at religious pluralism. Open-mindedness and dialogue between Jewish denominations expanded.

However regarding Zionism and Israel – that’s where tolerance reached its limit. Individuals might align with a conservative supporter or a progressive supporter, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish state was assumed, and questioning that narrative categorized you outside the consensus – an “Un-Jew”, as Tablet magazine termed it in an essay that year.

Yet presently, during of the ruin within Gaza, starvation, young victims and outrage regarding the refusal within Jewish communities who refuse to recognize their complicity, that consensus has collapsed. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer