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It has been the mass murder of October 7, 2023, which shook global Jewish populations more than any event since the creation of the state of Israel.

For Jews it was deeply traumatic. For the state of Israel, it was deeply humiliating. The whole Zionist project had been established on the assumption which held that Israel would prevent such atrocities occurring in the future.

Some form of retaliation was inevitable. But the response Israel pursued – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the killing and maiming of many thousands non-combatants – constituted a specific policy. This particular approach created complexity in the way numerous American Jews grappled with the October 7th events that precipitated the response, and it now complicates the community's observance of the anniversary. In what way can people honor and reflect on an atrocity targeting their community in the midst of an atrocity being inflicted upon a different population in your name?

The Difficulty of Grieving

The challenge in grieving lies in the circumstance where there is no consensus as to what any of this means. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, the recent twenty-four months have seen the collapse of a half-century-old unity on Zionism itself.

The early development of Zionist agreement among American Jewry extends as far back as writings from 1915 written by a legal scholar subsequently appointed high court jurist Louis D. Brandeis titled “The Jewish Question; Addressing the Challenge”. Yet the unity really takes hold subsequent to the 1967 conflict in 1967. Before then, Jewish Americans housed a vulnerable but enduring coexistence among different factions holding diverse perspectives about the necessity of a Jewish state – pro-Israel advocates, neutral parties and opponents.

Historical Context

That coexistence persisted throughout the mid-twentieth century, within remaining elements of leftist Jewish organizations, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, within the critical Jewish organization and other organizations. For Louis Finkelstein, the leader at JTS, Zionism had greater religious significance instead of governmental, and he prohibited singing Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, at religious school events in the early 1960s. Furthermore, Zionism and pro-Israelism the central focus within modern Orthodox Judaism prior to that war. Jewish identitarian alternatives existed alongside.

However following Israel routed neighboring countries during the 1967 conflict that year, taking control of areas including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, the American Jewish relationship to Israel underwent significant transformation. Israel’s victory, along with longstanding fears of a “second Holocaust”, resulted in an increasing conviction about the nation's critical importance to the Jewish people, and generated admiration in its resilience. Discourse concerning the “miraculous” aspect of the outcome and the reclaiming of areas assigned the movement a theological, almost redemptive, importance. In that triumphant era, a significant portion of the remaining ambivalence toward Israel dissipated. In that decade, Publication editor Norman Podhoretz famously proclaimed: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”

The Agreement and Its Boundaries

The unified position left out Haredi Jews – who largely believed a Jewish state should only be ushered in via conventional understanding of the messiah – but united Reform, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of secular Jews. The most popular form of the consensus, what became known as progressive Zionism, was based on the idea about the nation as a democratic and democratic – albeit ethnocentric – country. Countless Jewish Americans considered the occupation of local, Syrian and Egypt's territories following the war as not permanent, assuming that an agreement was imminent that would guarantee Jewish population majority within Israel's original borders and regional acceptance of the nation.

Two generations of Jewish Americans grew up with pro-Israel ideology a core part of their religious identity. Israel became a central part of Jewish education. Israeli national day became a Jewish holiday. Israeli flags were displayed in most synagogues. Youth programs were permeated with national melodies and the study of modern Hebrew, with visitors from Israel educating American youth Israeli culture. Visits to Israel increased and achieved record numbers with Birthright Israel during that year, providing no-cost visits to the nation was provided to US Jewish youth. Israel permeated virtually all areas of US Jewish life.

Shifting Landscape

Interestingly, throughout these years following the war, US Jewish communities developed expertise regarding denominational coexistence. Open-mindedness and communication among different Jewish movements grew.

However regarding Zionism and Israel – that represented diversity found its boundary. You could be a conservative supporter or a progressive supporter, yet backing Israel as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and criticizing that narrative placed you outside mainstream views – outside the community, as Tablet magazine labeled it in an essay recently.

However currently, during of the destruction of Gaza, starvation, child casualties and frustration about the rejection by numerous Jewish individuals who decline to acknowledge their involvement, that agreement has disintegrated. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer