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Two years have passed since that deadly assault of 7 October 2023, an event that deeply affected world Jewry unlike anything else following the founding of the Jewish state.

Within Jewish communities the event proved profoundly disturbing. For the state of Israel, the situation represented a significant embarrassment. The entire Zionist endeavor was founded on the presumption that the Jewish state would ensure against such atrocities repeating.

Some form of retaliation was inevitable. But the response Israel pursued – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the killing and maiming of numerous of civilians – represented a decision. This selected path made more difficult the perspective of many American Jews grappled with the attack that set it in motion, and currently challenges their commemoration of the anniversary. How does one honor and reflect on an atrocity affecting their nation during an atrocity experienced by a different population in your name?

The Challenge of Mourning

The complexity of mourning stems from the reality that no agreement exists as to the significance of these events. Indeed, within US Jewish circles, this two-year period have witnessed the disintegration of a decades-long unity regarding Zionism.

The origins of Zionist agreement among American Jewry extends as far back as a 1915 essay by the lawyer and then future high court jurist Louis Brandeis called “The Jewish Problem; Addressing the Challenge”. However, the agreement really takes hold subsequent to the Six-Day War that year. Previously, American Jewry contained a fragile but stable parallel existence among different factions that had diverse perspectives regarding the need of a Jewish state – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Historical Context

That coexistence persisted during the 1950s and 60s, through surviving aspects of socialist Jewish movements, through the non-aligned US Jewish group, among the opposing American Council for Judaism and other organizations. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the leader at JTS, Zionism had greater religious significance rather than political, and he prohibited performance of the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies in those years. Furthermore, Zionism and pro-Israelism the main element within modern Orthodox Judaism before that war. Different Jewish identity models coexisted.

However following Israel routed adjacent nations during the 1967 conflict that year, taking control of areas such as Palestinian territories, Gaza, the Golan and Jerusalem's eastern sector, US Jewish perspective on the country changed dramatically. The military success, along with enduring anxieties of a “second Holocaust”, led to an increasing conviction regarding Israel's vital role within Jewish identity, and a source of pride for its strength. Discourse concerning the remarkable aspect of the outcome and the “liberation” of areas assigned the Zionist project a religious, almost redemptive, meaning. In those heady years, considerable existing hesitation regarding Zionism disappeared. During the seventies, Writer Podhoretz stated: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The Zionist consensus did not include Haredi Jews – who typically thought Israel should only emerge by a traditional rendering of redemption – but united Reform Judaism, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and most non-affiliated Jews. The most popular form of the unified position, what became known as liberal Zionism, was established on a belief about the nation as a democratic and democratic – albeit ethnocentric – state. Many American Jews considered the administration of local, Syria's and Egyptian lands post-1967 as temporary, thinking that an agreement would soon emerge that would guarantee Jewish population majority in Israel proper and regional acceptance of the state.

Several cohorts of American Jews were raised with support for Israel an essential component of their Jewish identity. The state transformed into a key component within religious instruction. Yom Ha'atzmaut turned into a celebration. National symbols adorned religious institutions. Youth programs were permeated with Hebrew music and learning of the language, with Israeli guests and teaching American youth Israeli culture. Travel to Israel grew and reached new heights with Birthright Israel in 1999, when a free trip to Israel was provided to US Jewish youth. The state affected virtually all areas of the American Jewish experience.

Changing Dynamics

Paradoxically, in these decades following the war, Jewish Americans grew skilled at religious pluralism. Open-mindedness and dialogue between Jewish denominations expanded.

Yet concerning Zionism and Israel – there existed tolerance ended. You could be a rightwing Zionist or a liberal advocate, but support for Israel as a majority-Jewish country remained unquestioned, and challenging that perspective placed you beyond accepted boundaries – a non-conformist, as Tablet magazine termed it in writing in 2021.

But now, under the weight of the devastation of Gaza, famine, young victims and frustration regarding the refusal by numerous Jewish individuals who decline to acknowledge their involvement, that agreement has disintegrated. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer