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Marking two years after that mass murder of 7 October 2023, which profoundly impacted world Jewry unlike anything else since the establishment of Israel as a nation.

Within Jewish communities it was shocking. For the Israeli government, the situation represented a profound disgrace. The whole Zionist endeavor was founded on the assumption that the Jewish state could stop things like this occurring in the future.

A response appeared unavoidable. Yet the chosen course that Israel implemented – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the casualties of many thousands of civilians – represented a decision. This particular approach created complexity in how many American Jews understood the October 7th events that triggered it, and it now complicates their remembrance of that date. In what way can people mourn and commemorate a tragedy affecting their nation during an atrocity being inflicted upon another people in your name?

The Difficulty of Grieving

The challenge in grieving lies in the circumstance where there is no consensus as to the implications of these developments. Actually, for the American Jewish community, this two-year period have witnessed the breakdown of a fifty-year agreement regarding Zionism.

The origins of Zionist agreement within US Jewish communities dates back to writings from 1915 written by a legal scholar who would later become high court jurist Justice Brandeis called “Jewish Issues; Finding Solutions”. But the consensus truly solidified after the six-day war during 1967. Previously, US Jewish communities maintained a fragile but stable cohabitation among different factions holding a range of views regarding the need for a Jewish nation – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Background Information

This parallel existence persisted through the 1950s and 60s, within remaining elements of Jewish socialism, through the non-aligned Jewish communal organization, in the anti-Zionist Jewish organization and similar institutions. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the leader of the theological institution, Zionism was primarily theological rather than political, and he forbade the singing of the Israeli national anthem, the national song, during seminary ceremonies during that period. Additionally, support for Israel the centerpiece within modern Orthodox Judaism before the six-day war. Jewish identitarian alternatives coexisted.

Yet after Israel overcame neighboring countries in the six-day war that year, seizing land including Palestinian territories, Gaza, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish relationship to the country evolved considerably. Israel’s victory, combined with persistent concerns about another genocide, produced a growing belief in the country’s critical importance for Jewish communities, and created pride in its resilience. Language regarding the extraordinary aspect of the outcome and the “liberation” of territory assigned the Zionist project a spiritual, potentially salvific, meaning. In that triumphant era, much of the remaining ambivalence regarding Zionism disappeared. In that decade, Writer the commentator famously proclaimed: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Unity and Its Limits

The unified position left out strictly Orthodox communities – who typically thought a Jewish state should only be ushered in by a traditional rendering of the Messiah – but united Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and the majority of unaffiliated individuals. The predominant version of the unified position, identified as left-leaning Zionism, was founded on a belief in Israel as a liberal and democratic – while majority-Jewish – state. Many American Jews considered the occupation of Arab, Syria's and Egypt's territories after 1967 as temporary, thinking that a resolution was imminent that would ensure Jewish demographic dominance in Israel proper and Middle Eastern approval of the state.

Several cohorts of American Jews grew up with support for Israel an essential component of their religious identity. The nation became a key component in Jewish learning. Israel’s Independence Day evolved into a religious observance. National symbols decorated religious institutions. Youth programs were permeated with Israeli songs and education of modern Hebrew, with Israeli guests instructing American teenagers Israeli customs. Trips to the nation grew and peaked through Birthright programs in 1999, when a free trip to Israel was provided to US Jewish youth. The state affected nearly every aspect of the American Jewish experience.

Evolving Situation

Ironically, during this period post-1967, Jewish Americans became adept regarding denominational coexistence. Open-mindedness and communication between Jewish denominations grew.

However regarding Zionism and Israel – that represented diversity found its boundary. One could identify as a rightwing Zionist or a leftwing Zionist, yet backing Israel as a majority-Jewish country was assumed, and challenging that narrative positioned you outside the consensus – an “Un-Jew”, as a Jewish periodical described it in an essay in 2021.

But now, under the weight of the devastation within Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and frustration over the denial of many fellow Jews who refuse to recognize their involvement, that unity has collapsed. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer