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Marking two years after that mass murder of the events of October 7th, which shook global Jewish populations unlike anything else since the founding of Israel as a nation.

Within Jewish communities it was deeply traumatic. For the Israeli government, the situation represented deeply humiliating. The entire Zionist endeavor was founded on the presumption which held that the Jewish state would prevent such atrocities repeating.

Military action appeared unavoidable. But the response that Israel implemented – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the killing and maiming of tens of thousands ordinary people – was a choice. And this choice created complexity in how many US Jewish community members understood the initial assault that triggered it, and presently makes difficult the community's observance of the anniversary. In what way can people mourn and commemorate a horrific event targeting their community during a catastrophe being inflicted upon a different population in your name?

The Complexity of Mourning

The difficulty in grieving exists because of the reality that there is no consensus as to the implications of these developments. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, the last two years have witnessed the breakdown of a fifty-year consensus on Zionism itself.

The early development of pro-Israel unity among American Jewry can be traced to a 1915 essay authored by an attorney subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis called “The Jewish Question; How to Solve it”. But the consensus really takes hold following the 1967 conflict during 1967. Previously, American Jewry housed a delicate yet functioning cohabitation across various segments holding diverse perspectives regarding the necessity of a Jewish state – Zionists, non-Zionists and opponents.

Background Information

That coexistence persisted during the mid-twentieth century, within remaining elements of socialist Jewish movements, within the neutral US Jewish group, among the opposing religious group and similar institutions. For Louis Finkelstein, the leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Zionism had greater religious significance instead of governmental, and he did not permit performance of the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, at JTS ordinations during that period. Additionally, support for Israel the centerpiece within modern Orthodox Judaism until after the six-day war. Jewish identitarian alternatives remained present.

But after Israel overcame adjacent nations in that war in 1967, seizing land comprising Palestinian territories, Gaza, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish perspective on Israel changed dramatically. The military success, along with enduring anxieties regarding repeated persecution, produced a growing belief in the country’s critical importance to the Jewish people, and a source of pride in its resilience. Rhetoric concerning the “miraculous” quality of the victory and the freeing of territory gave the movement a religious, almost redemptive, meaning. In those heady years, much of previous uncertainty toward Israel vanished. In that decade, Publication editor the commentator famously proclaimed: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”

The Unity and Its Boundaries

The unified position did not include strictly Orthodox communities – who largely believed a Jewish state should only be established via conventional understanding of the Messiah – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and most unaffiliated individuals. The most popular form of this agreement, what became known as left-leaning Zionism, was established on a belief regarding Israel as a progressive and liberal – while majority-Jewish – country. Many American Jews viewed the occupation of Arab, Syria's and Egypt's territories after 1967 as temporary, assuming that a resolution would soon emerge that would ensure a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and regional acceptance of the nation.

Several cohorts of American Jews were thus brought up with pro-Israel ideology a core part of their identity as Jews. The state transformed into a key component of Jewish education. Yom Ha'atzmaut became a Jewish holiday. National symbols decorated religious institutions. Seasonal activities integrated with national melodies and the study of modern Hebrew, with visitors from Israel and teaching US young people Israeli culture. Trips to the nation increased and reached new heights via educational trips by 1999, offering complimentary travel to the nation was offered to Jewish young adults. The nation influenced almost the entirety of the American Jewish experience.

Shifting Landscape

Paradoxically, during this period post-1967, Jewish Americans became adept regarding denominational coexistence. Tolerance and dialogue between Jewish denominations grew.

Yet concerning support for Israel – there existed pluralism reached its limit. Individuals might align with a right-leaning advocate or a leftwing Zionist, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish state remained unquestioned, and questioning that perspective placed you beyond accepted boundaries – outside the community, as one publication termed it in an essay recently.

However currently, amid of the devastation in Gaza, food shortages, child casualties and anger about the rejection within Jewish communities who decline to acknowledge their responsibility, that consensus has disintegrated. The centrist pro-Israel view {has lost|no longer