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Marking two years after the mass murder of 7 October 2023, which shook world Jewry like no other occurrence since the founding of Israel as a nation.

For Jews it was shocking. For the Israeli government, it was a profound disgrace. The whole Zionist endeavor was founded on the presumption that Israel could stop such atrocities occurring in the future.

Some form of retaliation seemed necessary. But the response undertaken by Israel – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the deaths and injuries of numerous of civilians – constituted a specific policy. And this choice complicated the perspective of many Jewish Americans understood the initial assault that set it in motion, and currently challenges the community's remembrance of the day. How can someone grieve and remember a tragedy targeting their community in the midst of a catastrophe experienced by other individuals in your name?

The Challenge of Mourning

The difficulty surrounding remembrance stems from the circumstance where there is no consensus as to what any of this means. Actually, among Jewish Americans, the recent twenty-four months have witnessed the collapse of a half-century-old agreement regarding Zionism.

The origins of pro-Israel unity within US Jewish communities can be traced to an early twentieth-century publication by the lawyer subsequently appointed high court jurist Louis Brandeis named “The Jewish Question; Finding Solutions”. But the consensus truly solidified following the six-day war that year. Previously, American Jewry housed a delicate yet functioning coexistence among different factions which maintained diverse perspectives regarding the necessity for Israel – pro-Israel advocates, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Background Information

That coexistence endured throughout the 1950s and 60s, within remaining elements of Jewish socialism, through the non-aligned Jewish communal organization, within the critical American Council for Judaism and comparable entities. For Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, pro-Israel ideology was more spiritual than political, and he prohibited performance of the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, at JTS ordinations in the early 1960s. Nor were Zionism and pro-Israelism the centerpiece for contemporary Orthodox communities before the 1967 conflict. Alternative Jewish perspectives coexisted.

However following Israel defeated neighboring countries in the six-day war during that period, taking control of areas including Palestinian territories, Gaza, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish connection with Israel changed dramatically. The military success, coupled with persistent concerns about another genocide, resulted in an increasing conviction about the nation's critical importance to the Jewish people, and created pride for its strength. Discourse regarding the “miraculous” quality of the victory and the freeing of land assigned the Zionist project a religious, potentially salvific, meaning. In that triumphant era, much of previous uncertainty about Zionism vanished. During the seventies, Writer Norman Podhoretz declared: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”

The Agreement and Its Boundaries

The unified position excluded Haredi Jews – who typically thought a Jewish state should only be ushered in by a traditional rendering of redemption – however joined Reform, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and nearly all unaffiliated individuals. The common interpretation of the consensus, what became known as liberal Zionism, was based on the idea regarding Israel as a liberal and free – while majority-Jewish – nation. Many American Jews saw the administration of Arab, Syria's and Egyptian lands after 1967 as temporary, assuming that a resolution was imminent that would ensure Jewish population majority in Israel proper and regional acceptance of the state.

Two generations of Jewish Americans were thus brought up with support for Israel a fundamental aspect of their identity as Jews. The nation became an important element within religious instruction. Israel’s Independence Day became a Jewish holiday. National symbols were displayed in most synagogues. Youth programs were permeated with national melodies and the study of modern Hebrew, with visitors from Israel and teaching US young people Israeli culture. Trips to the nation expanded and achieved record numbers with Birthright Israel in 1999, offering complimentary travel to the country was offered to US Jewish youth. Israel permeated almost the entirety of the American Jewish experience.

Shifting Landscape

Interestingly, throughout these years after 1967, American Jewry became adept in religious diversity. Acceptance and dialogue among different Jewish movements expanded.

Except when it came to the Israeli situation – that’s where diversity found its boundary. You could be a conservative supporter or a progressive supporter, yet backing Israel as a majority-Jewish country was assumed, and challenging that position placed you beyond accepted boundaries – outside the community, as a Jewish periodical described it in writing that year.

Yet presently, amid of the destruction of Gaza, starvation, young victims and outrage over the denial of many fellow Jews who refuse to recognize their responsibility, that agreement has disintegrated. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer