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Marking two years after that deadly assault of October 7, 2023, an event that shook global Jewish populations like no other occurrence following the founding of Israel as a nation.

For Jews it was profoundly disturbing. For the state of Israel, it was a profound disgrace. The entire Zionist project was founded on the assumption which held that the Jewish state would prevent such atrocities from ever happening again.

Military action was inevitable. But the response undertaken by Israel – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of civilians – was a choice. This particular approach complicated how many Jewish Americans understood the October 7th events that triggered it, and currently challenges the community's observance of the day. How does one mourn and commemorate an atrocity against your people while simultaneously a catastrophe being inflicted upon other individuals connected to their community?

The Challenge of Mourning

The complexity in grieving exists because of the circumstance where no agreement exists regarding what any of this means. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, the last two years have experienced the breakdown of a half-century-old unity on Zionism itself.

The beginnings of a Zionist consensus across American Jewish populations can be traced to a 1915 essay authored by an attorney who would later become Supreme Court judge Justice Brandeis titled “The Jewish Problem; Finding Solutions”. But the consensus really takes hold after the 1967 conflict during 1967. Previously, US Jewish communities contained a delicate yet functioning parallel existence between groups that had a range of views concerning the necessity for a Jewish nation – Zionists, non-Zionists and opponents.

Background Information

This parallel existence persisted through the post-war decades, in remnants of socialist Jewish movements, within the neutral Jewish communal organization, among the opposing Jewish organization and other organizations. For Louis Finkelstein, the head of the theological institution, Zionism was more spiritual than political, and he did not permit performance of Israel's anthem, the Israeli national anthem, at religious school events in the early 1960s. Furthermore, Zionism and pro-Israelism the main element for contemporary Orthodox communities until after the 1967 conflict. Alternative Jewish perspectives existed alongside.

But after Israel defeated neighboring countries in that war that year, occupying territories including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish connection with the nation evolved considerably. The triumphant outcome, along with longstanding fears of a “second Holocaust”, resulted in an increasing conviction about the nation's critical importance for Jewish communities, and a source of pride regarding its endurance. Language regarding the extraordinary quality of the victory and the freeing of territory provided the movement a religious, even messianic, significance. In that triumphant era, a significant portion of existing hesitation regarding Zionism disappeared. During the seventies, Publication editor Norman Podhoretz declared: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The pro-Israel agreement left out strictly Orthodox communities – who generally maintained a nation should only emerge through traditional interpretation of redemption – yet included Reform, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and most secular Jews. The common interpretation of this agreement, later termed progressive Zionism, was founded on a belief in Israel as a liberal and free – though Jewish-centered – country. Many American Jews saw the administration of Arab, Syria's and Egypt's territories after 1967 as temporary, thinking that a resolution would soon emerge that would guarantee Jewish demographic dominance within Israel's original borders and regional acceptance of Israel.

Multiple generations of Jewish Americans grew up with support for Israel a fundamental aspect of their religious identity. Israel became an important element in Jewish learning. Israeli national day evolved into a religious observance. Blue and white banners decorated many temples. Youth programs were permeated with Hebrew music and learning of modern Hebrew, with visitors from Israel instructing US young people Israeli culture. Visits to Israel increased and achieved record numbers via educational trips by 1999, providing no-cost visits to the nation was offered to Jewish young adults. The state affected almost the entirety of US Jewish life.

Changing Dynamics

Interestingly, throughout these years following the war, US Jewish communities grew skilled in religious diversity. Open-mindedness and dialogue across various Jewish groups grew.

However regarding the Israeli situation – there existed tolerance reached its limit. You could be a right-leaning advocate or a leftwing Zionist, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish state was a given, and criticizing that perspective placed you outside the consensus – outside the community, as one publication termed it in a piece that year.

However currently, during of the ruin of Gaza, starvation, young victims and outrage about the rejection of many fellow Jews who refuse to recognize their involvement, that consensus has broken down. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer