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Marking two years after the deadly assault of the events of October 7th, an event that deeply affected Jewish communities worldwide like no other occurrence following the founding of the state of Israel.

For Jews it was deeply traumatic. For the state of Israel, it was a significant embarrassment. The entire Zionist movement rested on the presumption that Israel would ensure against such atrocities repeating.

Military action appeared unavoidable. But the response Israel pursued – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the killing and maiming of numerous non-combatants – constituted a specific policy. This selected path made more difficult the way numerous American Jews grappled with the initial assault that precipitated the response, and presently makes difficult their commemoration of the anniversary. How does one grieve and remember an atrocity against your people during devastation being inflicted upon a different population in your name?

The Complexity of Mourning

The complexity of mourning exists because of the circumstance where there is no consensus as to what any of this means. Indeed, for the American Jewish community, this two-year period have seen the breakdown of a decades-long unity regarding Zionism.

The origins of pro-Israel unity across American Jewish populations extends as far back as an early twentieth-century publication by the lawyer who would later become high court jurist Louis D. Brandeis named “Jewish Issues; Finding Solutions”. But the consensus became firmly established subsequent to the six-day war in 1967. Previously, US Jewish communities housed a vulnerable but enduring cohabitation among different factions holding a range of views about the requirement for a Jewish nation – Zionists, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Background Information

This parallel existence persisted through the mid-twentieth century, through surviving aspects of Jewish socialism, through the non-aligned Jewish communal organization, in the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism and other organizations. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the chancellor of the theological institution, Zionism was primarily theological rather than political, and he did not permit performance of Israel's anthem, the Israeli national anthem, during seminary ceremonies in the early 1960s. Furthermore, Zionism and pro-Israelism the centerpiece within modern Orthodox Judaism prior to that war. Jewish identitarian alternatives remained present.

But after Israel routed neighboring countries in the six-day war that year, occupying territories including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish perspective on the nation evolved considerably. The military success, combined with longstanding fears of a “second Holocaust”, resulted in a growing belief about the nation's critical importance to the Jewish people, and a source of pride in its resilience. Rhetoric concerning the “miraculous” aspect of the outcome and the freeing of areas provided Zionism a religious, potentially salvific, importance. During that enthusiastic period, considerable existing hesitation about Zionism vanished. In the early 1970s, Publication editor the commentator stated: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The unified position did not include Haredi Jews – who typically thought a nation should only be ushered in through traditional interpretation of the Messiah – yet included Reform Judaism, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and most secular Jews. The predominant version of the unified position, what became known as left-leaning Zionism, was based on the idea in Israel as a liberal and free – though Jewish-centered – nation. Numerous US Jews viewed the occupation of local, Syrian and Egyptian lands after 1967 as temporary, assuming that a solution would soon emerge that would ensure Jewish demographic dominance in pre-1967 Israel and Middle Eastern approval of the nation.

Several cohorts of American Jews were raised with Zionism an essential component of their religious identity. The nation became a key component in Jewish learning. Israel’s Independence Day turned into a celebration. Israeli flags adorned most synagogues. Summer camps became infused with Hebrew music and the study of the language, with Israelis visiting educating American youth Israeli customs. Visits to Israel expanded and peaked with Birthright Israel in 1999, when a free trip to the nation was provided to US Jewish youth. The state affected nearly every aspect of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Interestingly, during this period after 1967, American Jewry grew skilled in religious diversity. Open-mindedness and communication among different Jewish movements increased.

However regarding support for Israel – there existed tolerance ended. One could identify as a conservative supporter or a leftwing Zionist, yet backing Israel as a majority-Jewish country was assumed, and questioning that perspective placed you beyond accepted boundaries – a non-conformist, as Tablet magazine labeled it in writing recently.

However currently, during of the ruin in Gaza, famine, young victims and frustration about the rejection within Jewish communities who decline to acknowledge their complicity, that unity has broken down. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer