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Marking two years after that mass murder of October 7, 2023, which shook Jewish communities worldwide like no other occurrence since the creation of the state of Israel.

For Jews the event proved profoundly disturbing. For the state of Israel, it was deeply humiliating. The entire Zionist movement rested on the presumption that Israel would ensure against things like this from ever happening again.

A response appeared unavoidable. Yet the chosen course Israel pursued – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the casualties of many thousands ordinary people – constituted a specific policy. And this choice complicated the perspective of many American Jews grappled with the October 7th events that triggered it, and it now complicates their commemoration of the anniversary. How can someone mourn and commemorate a horrific event against your people while simultaneously an atrocity done to a different population attributed to their identity?

The Difficulty of Remembrance

The challenge in grieving exists because of the circumstance where no agreement exists about what any of this means. Indeed, within US Jewish circles, the last two years have experienced the breakdown of a fifty-year consensus regarding Zionism.

The early development of Zionist agreement within US Jewish communities dates back to writings from 1915 written by a legal scholar subsequently appointed supreme court justice Justice Brandeis called “The Jewish Question; How to Solve it”. But the consensus became firmly established after the Six-Day War in 1967. Previously, American Jewry maintained a fragile but stable cohabitation across various segments holding a range of views about the need for a Jewish nation – Zionists, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Previous Developments

Such cohabitation continued through the post-war decades, within remaining elements of socialist Jewish movements, through the non-aligned American Jewish Committee, within the critical American Council for Judaism and comparable entities. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the leader at JTS, the Zionist movement was more spiritual than political, and he prohibited performance of the Israeli national anthem, the national song, at JTS ordinations in the early 1960s. Furthermore, Zionism and pro-Israelism the main element for contemporary Orthodox communities before the 1967 conflict. Alternative Jewish perspectives coexisted.

Yet after Israel defeated neighboring countries in that war during that period, seizing land such as Palestinian territories, Gaza, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, the American Jewish connection with the nation underwent significant transformation. The military success, combined with persistent concerns regarding repeated persecution, led to a growing belief regarding Israel's vital role to the Jewish people, and generated admiration in its resilience. Language about the “miraculous” aspect of the success and the freeing of land provided Zionism a religious, almost redemptive, importance. In that triumphant era, a significant portion of the remaining ambivalence about Zionism dissipated. In that decade, Publication editor the commentator declared: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Its Boundaries

The Zionist consensus did not include the ultra-Orthodox – who typically thought a Jewish state should only emerge via conventional understanding of the Messiah – yet included Reform Judaism, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and nearly all non-affiliated Jews. The common interpretation of the unified position, identified as left-leaning Zionism, was established on the conviction in Israel as a liberal and democratic – albeit ethnocentric – state. Numerous US Jews considered the control of local, Syrian and Egypt's territories after 1967 as temporary, thinking that a resolution was imminent that would ensure a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and Middle Eastern approval of the nation.

Several cohorts of Jewish Americans were thus brought up with Zionism a core part of their identity as Jews. Israel became an important element of Jewish education. Israel’s Independence Day turned into a celebration. Blue and white banners were displayed in most synagogues. Summer camps became infused with national melodies and education of the language, with visitors from Israel and teaching American youth Israeli customs. Visits to Israel expanded and peaked via educational trips in 1999, providing no-cost visits to the country became available to young American Jews. Israel permeated nearly every aspect of US Jewish life.

Shifting Landscape

Interestingly, during this period post-1967, Jewish Americans became adept at religious pluralism. Acceptance and dialogue across various Jewish groups expanded.

However regarding Zionism and Israel – there existed diversity found its boundary. Individuals might align with a conservative supporter or a liberal advocate, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish state remained unquestioned, and questioning that position categorized you outside mainstream views – an “Un-Jew”, as a Jewish periodical termed it in an essay in 2021.

Yet presently, under the weight of the ruin within Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and anger over the denial of many fellow Jews who decline to acknowledge their complicity, that unity has broken down. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer