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Two years have passed since the horrific attack of the events of October 7th, which deeply affected global Jewish populations unlike anything else since the creation of the Jewish state.

Among Jewish people the event proved profoundly disturbing. For the state of Israel, the situation represented deeply humiliating. The entire Zionist movement was founded on the assumption that Israel would prevent things like this repeating.

Some form of retaliation appeared unavoidable. Yet the chosen course that Israel implemented – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the casualties of tens of thousands of civilians – was a choice. And this choice created complexity in how many Jewish Americans processed the initial assault that triggered it, and it now complicates their commemoration of that date. How does one honor and reflect on a horrific event targeting their community while simultaneously a catastrophe experienced by another people connected to their community?

The Challenge of Grieving

The difficulty in grieving lies in the circumstance where little unity prevails as to what any of this means. In fact, within US Jewish circles, the last two years have experienced the collapse of a decades-long agreement on Zionism itself.

The origins of a Zionist consensus among American Jewry can be traced to a 1915 essay authored by an attorney subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis named “The Jewish Question; How to Solve it”. Yet the unity became firmly established following the 1967 conflict in 1967. Earlier, US Jewish communities housed a delicate yet functioning parallel existence between groups holding a range of views regarding the necessity of a Jewish state – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and opponents.

Previous Developments

Such cohabitation continued through the 1950s and 60s, through surviving aspects of Jewish socialism, in the non-Zionist American Jewish Committee, in the anti-Zionist Jewish organization and other organizations. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the chancellor at JTS, the Zionist movement had greater religious significance than political, and he prohibited performance of Hatikvah, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies in those years. Nor were support for Israel the centerpiece for contemporary Orthodox communities until after that war. Jewish identitarian alternatives existed alongside.

But after Israel overcame its neighbors during the 1967 conflict during that period, occupying territories including Palestinian territories, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, US Jewish relationship to the nation changed dramatically. Israel’s victory, combined with persistent concerns regarding repeated persecution, led to a developing perspective about the nation's critical importance within Jewish identity, and created pride in its resilience. Rhetoric regarding the remarkable quality of the success and the freeing of land provided Zionism a theological, potentially salvific, meaning. In that triumphant era, a significant portion of the remaining ambivalence about Zionism disappeared. In that decade, Publication editor Norman Podhoretz declared: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Agreement and Its Boundaries

The unified position excluded strictly Orthodox communities – who largely believed Israel should only be established by a traditional rendering of the messiah – yet included Reform, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and the majority of unaffiliated individuals. The most popular form of the unified position, later termed progressive Zionism, was established on a belief about the nation as a liberal and liberal – albeit ethnocentric – nation. Numerous US Jews viewed the occupation of local, Syria's and Egypt's territories following the war as temporary, thinking that a solution was imminent that would ensure Jewish population majority in Israel proper and neighbor recognition of the nation.

Several cohorts of American Jews grew up with pro-Israel ideology a core part of their religious identity. Israel became a central part of Jewish education. Israel’s Independence Day evolved into a religious observance. Israeli flags decorated most synagogues. Summer camps were permeated with Israeli songs and education of modern Hebrew, with Israelis visiting educating American youth Israeli customs. Travel to Israel expanded and peaked via educational trips in 1999, offering complimentary travel to Israel became available to young American Jews. The nation influenced virtually all areas of the American Jewish experience.

Changing Dynamics

Interestingly, throughout these years post-1967, American Jewry developed expertise in religious diversity. Acceptance and discussion across various Jewish groups expanded.

Except when it came to support for Israel – that represented pluralism found its boundary. You could be a rightwing Zionist or a progressive supporter, however endorsement of the nation as a majority-Jewish country was assumed, and criticizing that position positioned you outside mainstream views – a non-conformist, as Tablet magazine termed it in a piece in 2021.

But now, amid of the devastation of Gaza, famine, young victims and frustration over the denial by numerous Jewish individuals who decline to acknowledge their involvement, that unity has disintegrated. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer