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It has been the deadly assault of October 7, 2023, an event that profoundly impacted global Jewish populations unlike anything else since the creation of Israel as a nation.

Within Jewish communities the event proved shocking. For the Israeli government, the situation represented deeply humiliating. The entire Zionist endeavor had been established on the presumption which held that Israel would prevent things like this occurring in the future.

Some form of retaliation was inevitable. But the response that Israel implemented – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the killing and maiming of numerous of civilians – was a choice. This selected path made more difficult the perspective of many American Jews grappled with the initial assault that precipitated the response, and presently makes difficult their commemoration of that date. In what way can people grieve and remember a tragedy targeting their community during devastation experienced by a different population connected to their community?

The Challenge of Remembrance

The challenge surrounding remembrance exists because of the reality that there is no consensus regarding what any of this means. In fact, among Jewish Americans, this two-year period have witnessed the disintegration of a fifty-year agreement regarding Zionism.

The origins of a Zionist consensus across American Jewish populations can be traced to a 1915 essay by the lawyer subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis named “The Jewish Problem; Addressing the Challenge”. But the consensus truly solidified subsequent to the six-day war that year. Earlier, US Jewish communities housed a vulnerable but enduring coexistence between groups which maintained different opinions regarding the necessity for a Jewish nation – Zionists, neutral parties and opponents.

Background Information

This parallel existence continued during the post-war decades, through surviving aspects of socialist Jewish movements, within the neutral US Jewish group, within the critical American Council for Judaism and similar institutions. For Louis Finkelstein, the leader at JTS, the Zionist movement was more spiritual than political, and he did not permit singing Israel's anthem, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies in the early 1960s. Nor were Zionism and pro-Israelism the centerpiece for contemporary Orthodox communities before the 1967 conflict. Alternative Jewish perspectives existed alongside.

Yet after Israel overcame its neighbors during the 1967 conflict in 1967, taking control of areas comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish relationship to the nation underwent significant transformation. The military success, coupled with enduring anxieties about another genocide, resulted in a growing belief in the country’s vital role within Jewish identity, and created pride regarding its endurance. Rhetoric regarding the remarkable aspect of the outcome and the freeing of areas provided Zionism a spiritual, even messianic, significance. During that enthusiastic period, much of the remaining ambivalence regarding Zionism vanished. In that decade, Publication editor the commentator stated: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Consensus and Its Limits

The unified position excluded Haredi Jews – who largely believed Israel should only emerge through traditional interpretation of redemption – but united Reform Judaism, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of unaffiliated individuals. The most popular form of this agreement, identified as left-leaning Zionism, was established on a belief regarding Israel as a progressive and liberal – while majority-Jewish – country. Countless Jewish Americans viewed the control of local, Syrian and Egyptian lands following the war as temporary, believing that a resolution was imminent that would guarantee Jewish population majority in pre-1967 Israel and Middle Eastern approval of the nation.

Several cohorts of American Jews were raised with support for Israel a core part of their identity as Jews. The state transformed into a central part of Jewish education. Israel’s Independence Day became a Jewish holiday. Israeli flags were displayed in most synagogues. Summer camps integrated with national melodies and education of modern Hebrew, with visitors from Israel and teaching American youth Israeli culture. Trips to the nation increased and achieved record numbers via educational trips by 1999, providing no-cost visits to the nation was offered to US Jewish youth. The nation influenced almost the entirety of the American Jewish experience.

Evolving Situation

Paradoxically, during this period after 1967, US Jewish communities became adept regarding denominational coexistence. Open-mindedness and discussion among different Jewish movements expanded.

Yet concerning Zionism and Israel – there existed diversity found its boundary. You could be a right-leaning advocate or a progressive supporter, yet backing Israel as a Jewish state remained unquestioned, and questioning that perspective placed you outside the consensus – an “Un-Jew”, as one publication labeled it in an essay that year.

Yet presently, amid of the devastation within Gaza, famine, dead and orphaned children and frustration over the denial of many fellow Jews who avoid admitting their involvement, that consensus has broken down. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer