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Two years have passed since that horrific attack of October 7, 2023, which deeply affected world Jewry like no other occurrence following the founding of Israel as a nation.

Among Jewish people the event proved shocking. For the state of Israel, it was deeply humiliating. The whole Zionist endeavor had been established on the belief that Israel would prevent similar tragedies occurring in the future.

A response was inevitable. But the response that Israel implemented – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the killing and maiming of numerous of civilians – represented a decision. This selected path made more difficult how many Jewish Americans processed the initial assault that set it in motion, and it now complicates the community's observance of the anniversary. How does one grieve and remember an atrocity targeting their community while simultaneously an atrocity being inflicted upon a different population attributed to their identity?

The Complexity of Remembrance

The challenge of mourning stems from the fact that little unity prevails regarding what any of this means. Indeed, within US Jewish circles, the recent twenty-four months have experienced the disintegration of a decades-long consensus on Zionism itself.

The origins of Zionist agreement among American Jewry can be traced to a 1915 essay authored by an attorney and then future Supreme Court judge Louis D. Brandeis named “The Jewish Problem; Addressing the Challenge”. But the consensus truly solidified after the six-day war during 1967. Before then, US Jewish communities contained a vulnerable but enduring coexistence across various segments which maintained a range of views concerning the need for a Jewish nation – Zionists, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Background Information

Such cohabitation continued throughout the post-war decades, in remnants of socialist Jewish movements, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, in the anti-Zionist religious group and other organizations. For Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor of the theological institution, the Zionist movement was more spiritual rather than political, and he did not permit the singing of Israel's anthem, the Israeli national anthem, during seminary ceremonies during that period. Nor were support for Israel the centerpiece within modern Orthodox Judaism before the six-day war. Alternative Jewish perspectives remained present.

But after Israel defeated neighboring countries in the six-day war in 1967, occupying territories comprising Palestinian territories, Gaza, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish perspective on the nation underwent significant transformation. The military success, along with persistent concerns about another genocide, produced an increasing conviction in the country’s vital role to the Jewish people, and a source of pride regarding its endurance. Rhetoric about the remarkable quality of the outcome and the reclaiming of territory provided the movement a theological, almost redemptive, significance. During that enthusiastic period, a significant portion of existing hesitation about Zionism dissipated. In that decade, Publication editor Norman Podhoretz famously proclaimed: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Agreement and Restrictions

The pro-Israel agreement excluded Haredi Jews – who generally maintained a Jewish state should only emerge via conventional understanding of redemption – however joined Reform, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and nearly all secular Jews. The predominant version of the consensus, identified as progressive Zionism, was established on a belief about the nation as a democratic and liberal – while majority-Jewish – state. Many American Jews viewed the administration of Arab, Syrian and Egypt's territories after 1967 as provisional, assuming that an agreement would soon emerge that would maintain Jewish population majority within Israel's original borders and Middle Eastern approval of Israel.

Multiple generations of US Jews were thus brought up with Zionism a fundamental aspect of their Jewish identity. The nation became a central part in Jewish learning. Yom Ha'atzmaut turned into a celebration. National symbols were displayed in religious institutions. Summer camps became infused with Israeli songs and education of contemporary Hebrew, with Israeli guests educating American teenagers national traditions. Trips to the nation expanded and peaked with Birthright Israel by 1999, offering complimentary travel to Israel became available to Jewish young adults. The nation influenced almost the entirety of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Paradoxically, in these decades following the war, American Jewry developed expertise in religious diversity. Open-mindedness and discussion across various Jewish groups expanded.

However regarding support for Israel – there existed diversity ended. Individuals might align with a rightwing Zionist or a progressive supporter, but support for Israel as a Jewish homeland was a given, and questioning that narrative positioned you outside mainstream views – a non-conformist, as Tablet magazine described it in writing in 2021.

But now, amid of the devastation within Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and outrage regarding the refusal within Jewish communities who refuse to recognize their complicity, that unity has collapsed. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer