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It has been the deadly assault of 7 October 2023, which shook Jewish communities worldwide more than any event following the establishment of Israel as a nation.

For Jews it was deeply traumatic. For Israel as a nation, it was deeply humiliating. The entire Zionist movement had been established on the belief that the Jewish state would prevent things like this repeating.

Military action appeared unavoidable. Yet the chosen course Israel pursued – the obliteration of the Gaza Strip, the killing and maiming of tens of thousands ordinary people – constituted a specific policy. This particular approach made more difficult the perspective of many American Jews grappled with the October 7th events that triggered it, and presently makes difficult the community's remembrance of the day. How can someone honor and reflect on a horrific event against your people during an atrocity done to other individuals connected to their community?

The Complexity of Remembrance

The challenge of mourning lies in the fact that no agreement exists about the significance of these events. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, the last two years have witnessed the disintegration of a fifty-year agreement on Zionism itself.

The early development of a Zionist consensus among American Jewry dates back to a 1915 essay written by a legal scholar who would later become supreme court justice Justice Brandeis named “The Jewish Problem; Addressing the Challenge”. But the consensus became firmly established after the 1967 conflict during 1967. Previously, US Jewish communities maintained a delicate yet functioning parallel existence between groups which maintained diverse perspectives about the necessity for a Jewish nation – Zionists, non-Zionists and opponents.

Background Information

Such cohabitation continued through the 1950s and 60s, through surviving aspects of Jewish socialism, through the non-aligned US Jewish group, among the opposing religious group and other organizations. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the head of the Jewish Theological Seminary, pro-Israel ideology was more spiritual than political, and he forbade the singing of Hatikvah, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies during that period. Nor were Zionism and pro-Israelism the central focus of Modern Orthodoxy prior to that war. Jewish identitarian alternatives existed alongside.

Yet after Israel overcame its neighbors during the 1967 conflict during that period, seizing land such as the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan and Jerusalem's eastern sector, the American Jewish connection with the country changed dramatically. The military success, combined with longstanding fears regarding repeated persecution, led to a developing perspective regarding Israel's critical importance within Jewish identity, and a source of pride regarding its endurance. Rhetoric regarding the extraordinary nature of the success and the freeing of areas assigned the movement a spiritual, potentially salvific, significance. During that enthusiastic period, much of previous uncertainty regarding Zionism vanished. In the early 1970s, Writer the commentator stated: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Consensus and Its Limits

The pro-Israel agreement excluded Haredi Jews – who generally maintained a Jewish state should only emerge by a traditional rendering of the messiah – yet included Reform, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and nearly all unaffiliated individuals. The most popular form of the consensus, what became known as left-leaning Zionism, was founded on the idea about the nation as a progressive and free – though Jewish-centered – nation. Many American Jews considered the administration of Arab, Syria's and Egyptian lands after 1967 as provisional, assuming that a solution would soon emerge that would ensure Jewish demographic dominance in Israel proper and regional acceptance of Israel.

Several cohorts of Jewish Americans were raised with Zionism a fundamental aspect of their Jewish identity. The state transformed into a central part of Jewish education. Israeli national day turned into a celebration. Israeli flags adorned religious institutions. Youth programs integrated with Hebrew music and education of contemporary Hebrew, with Israelis visiting and teaching American teenagers Israeli culture. Travel to Israel grew and achieved record numbers with Birthright Israel by 1999, offering complimentary travel to Israel was provided to young American Jews. The nation influenced virtually all areas of US Jewish life.

Shifting Landscape

Paradoxically, throughout these years post-1967, US Jewish communities became adept regarding denominational coexistence. Tolerance and communication across various Jewish groups expanded.

However regarding support for Israel – that’s where tolerance reached its limit. Individuals might align with a right-leaning advocate or a progressive supporter, yet backing Israel as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and questioning that position positioned you beyond accepted boundaries – a non-conformist, as one publication labeled it in an essay that year.

Yet presently, amid of the devastation of Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and anger over the denial by numerous Jewish individuals who refuse to recognize their involvement, that unity has collapsed. The centrist pro-Israel view {has lost|no longer