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Marking two years after the deadly assault of October 7, 2023, which profoundly impacted world Jewry more than any event following the creation of Israel as a nation.

Within Jewish communities it was profoundly disturbing. For Israel as a nation, 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. However, the particular response that Israel implemented – the obliteration of Gaza, the deaths and injuries of many thousands ordinary people – represented a decision. And this choice complicated the perspective of many US Jewish community members grappled with the October 7th events that triggered it, and it now complicates the community's commemoration of that date. How does one mourn and commemorate a tragedy against your people while simultaneously devastation done to another people in your name?

The Difficulty of Remembrance

The challenge in grieving lies in the reality that there is no consensus regarding the implications of these developments. Actually, within US Jewish circles, the last two years have experienced the breakdown of a fifty-year consensus on Zionism itself.

The origins of pro-Israel unity within US Jewish communities dates back to a 1915 essay authored by an attorney who would later become Supreme Court judge Justice Brandeis titled “The Jewish Question; Finding Solutions”. Yet the unity became firmly established subsequent to the 1967 conflict in 1967. Earlier, US Jewish communities maintained a delicate yet functioning coexistence across various segments that had a range of views about the need of a Jewish state – Zionists, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Previous Developments

This parallel existence continued throughout the post-war decades, within remaining elements of Jewish socialism, through the non-aligned American Jewish Committee, within the critical American Council for Judaism and similar institutions. For Louis Finkelstein, the head at JTS, the Zionist movement was primarily theological rather than political, and he prohibited singing the Israeli national anthem, the Israeli national anthem, at JTS ordinations during that period. Nor were support for Israel the central focus of Modern Orthodoxy before that war. Alternative Jewish perspectives coexisted.

But after Israel routed neighboring countries during the 1967 conflict during that period, taking control of areas including the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan and Jerusalem's eastern sector, US Jewish perspective on the country changed dramatically. Israel’s victory, combined with persistent concerns regarding repeated persecution, produced a growing belief about the nation's critical importance for Jewish communities, and generated admiration in its resilience. Discourse about the remarkable nature of the success and the reclaiming of areas provided the Zionist project a religious, even messianic, importance. During that enthusiastic period, a significant portion of the remaining ambivalence regarding Zionism disappeared. During the seventies, Publication editor Norman Podhoretz declared: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Agreement and Its Limits

The Zionist consensus excluded the ultra-Orthodox – who generally maintained a Jewish state should only be ushered in by a traditional rendering of the Messiah – but united Reform, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and the majority of secular Jews. The most popular form of the consensus, what became known as liberal Zionism, was based on the idea in Israel as a progressive and free – though Jewish-centered – country. Many American Jews saw the occupation of Arab, Syria's and Egyptian lands following the war as not permanent, thinking that an agreement would soon emerge that would ensure Jewish population majority in Israel proper and neighbor recognition of the nation.

Several cohorts of US Jews grew up with Zionism a fundamental aspect of their identity as Jews. The nation became a key component of Jewish education. Israeli national day became a Jewish holiday. National symbols decorated many temples. Seasonal activities became infused with Hebrew music and learning of modern Hebrew, with Israeli guests and teaching US young people Israeli customs. Travel to Israel increased and reached new heights via educational trips in 1999, offering complimentary travel to the country was provided to Jewish young adults. The state affected nearly every aspect of Jewish American identity.

Evolving Situation

Interestingly, in these decades post-1967, US Jewish communities developed expertise at religious pluralism. Open-mindedness and communication between Jewish denominations expanded.

However regarding support for Israel – there existed pluralism found its boundary. Individuals might align with a rightwing Zionist or a leftwing Zionist, yet backing Israel as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and criticizing that perspective positioned you outside the consensus – outside the community, as a Jewish periodical described it in an essay recently.

However currently, under the weight of the destruction of Gaza, famine, dead and orphaned children and outrage about the rejection within Jewish communities who avoid admitting their complicity, that unity has collapsed. The centrist pro-Israel view {has lost|no longer