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Two years have passed since that horrific attack of the events of October 7th, an event that profoundly impacted Jewish communities worldwide unlike anything else since the establishment of Israel as a nation.

For Jews it was profoundly disturbing. For Israel as a nation, it was a profound disgrace. The whole Zionist endeavor rested on the assumption which held that the Jewish state would ensure against things like this repeating.

Some form of retaliation appeared unavoidable. Yet the chosen course Israel pursued – the widespread destruction of the Gaza Strip, the casualties of numerous non-combatants – constituted a specific policy. And this choice complicated how many Jewish Americans processed the initial assault that set it in motion, and it now complicates their commemoration of the anniversary. How can someone honor and reflect on a tragedy targeting their community during a catastrophe being inflicted upon other individuals in your name?

The Difficulty of Mourning

The challenge surrounding remembrance exists because of the circumstance where there is no consensus regarding what any of this means. Actually, for the American Jewish community, the recent twenty-four months have seen the disintegration of a decades-long unity regarding Zionism.

The early development of Zionist agreement across American Jewish populations can be traced to writings from 1915 authored by an attorney subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Justice Brandeis called “The Jewish Question; How to Solve it”. Yet the unity became firmly established after the six-day war in 1967. Before then, US Jewish communities maintained a fragile but stable coexistence among different factions holding different opinions concerning the requirement for Israel – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Historical Context

Such cohabitation endured during the mid-twentieth century, through surviving aspects of Jewish socialism, in the non-Zionist American Jewish Committee, within the critical American Council for Judaism and similar institutions. For Louis Finkelstein, the head of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Zionism was more spiritual than political, and he forbade singing Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, at JTS ordinations in those years. Furthermore, Zionism and pro-Israelism the central focus for contemporary Orthodox communities until after that war. Different Jewish identity models existed alongside.

Yet after Israel overcame its neighbors in that war that year, occupying territories comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, US Jewish perspective on the country changed dramatically. The triumphant outcome, combined with longstanding fears of a “second Holocaust”, produced a growing belief in the country’s critical importance to the Jewish people, and a source of pride in its resilience. Rhetoric about the “miraculous” aspect of the victory and the freeing of areas gave Zionism a spiritual, almost redemptive, importance. In those heady years, a significant portion of previous uncertainty about Zionism disappeared. In the early 1970s, Publication editor Norman Podhoretz famously proclaimed: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Its Boundaries

The pro-Israel agreement excluded the ultra-Orthodox – who typically thought a Jewish state should only be ushered in via conventional understanding of the Messiah – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and most non-affiliated Jews. The predominant version of this agreement, identified as left-leaning Zionism, was established on the conviction regarding Israel as a progressive and democratic – though Jewish-centered – country. Many American Jews saw the administration of Palestinian, Syria's and Egyptian lands following the war as temporary, assuming that a solution was imminent that would ensure Jewish population majority in pre-1967 Israel and regional acceptance of the nation.

Several cohorts of Jewish Americans were thus brought up with Zionism an essential component of their Jewish identity. Israel became a key component in Jewish learning. Israel’s Independence Day became a Jewish holiday. Israeli flags decorated religious institutions. Seasonal activities became infused with national melodies and education of the language, with Israelis visiting educating US young people Israeli customs. Trips to the nation grew and achieved record numbers with Birthright Israel by 1999, when a free trip to Israel became available to Jewish young adults. The nation influenced nearly every aspect of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Paradoxically, during this period after 1967, Jewish Americans grew skilled in religious diversity. Tolerance and communication between Jewish denominations increased.

Yet concerning the Israeli situation – there existed diversity ended. You could be a rightwing Zionist or a progressive supporter, but support for Israel as a Jewish state was assumed, and criticizing that narrative placed you outside the consensus – a non-conformist, as one publication labeled it in a piece in 2021.

However currently, under the weight of the devastation of Gaza, famine, dead and orphaned children and anger over the denial within Jewish communities who avoid admitting their complicity, that consensus has disintegrated. The centrist pro-Israel view {has lost|no longer