🔗 Share this article

Two years have passed since that mass murder of October 7, 2023, an event that profoundly impacted world Jewry like no other occurrence following the creation of Israel as a nation.

For Jews the event proved profoundly disturbing. For Israel as a nation, it was a significant embarrassment. The entire Zionist endeavor was founded on the assumption that Israel would ensure against things like this occurring in the future.

Some form of retaliation appeared unavoidable. But the response undertaken by Israel – the obliteration of the Gaza Strip, the killing and maiming of many thousands non-combatants – was a choice. This selected path complicated the perspective of many American Jews grappled with the October 7th events that precipitated the response, and it now complicates their remembrance of the day. How does one honor and reflect on a tragedy affecting their nation in the midst of a catastrophe done to other individuals in your name?

The Complexity of Grieving

The complexity in grieving exists because of the fact that no agreement exists as to the significance of these events. Actually, among Jewish Americans, the recent twenty-four months have experienced the breakdown of a fifty-year unity on Zionism itself.

The origins of Zionist agreement across American Jewish populations can be traced to an early twentieth-century publication authored by an attorney and then future Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis titled “The Jewish Problem; Addressing the Challenge”. But the consensus truly solidified after the six-day war in 1967. Previously, Jewish Americans maintained a fragile but stable coexistence between groups that had a range of views regarding the necessity for a Jewish nation – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and opponents.

Background Information

This parallel existence endured during the mid-twentieth century, through surviving aspects of leftist Jewish organizations, within the neutral Jewish communal organization, within the critical American Council for Judaism and comparable entities. For Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor of the theological institution, Zionism had greater religious significance instead of governmental, and he forbade singing the Israeli national anthem, the Israeli national anthem, during seminary ceremonies in those years. Additionally, Zionist ideology the central focus for contemporary Orthodox communities before that war. Alternative Jewish perspectives remained present.

However following Israel overcame neighboring countries in that war in 1967, occupying territories including Palestinian territories, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, US Jewish relationship to the country changed dramatically. The triumphant outcome, coupled with enduring anxieties regarding repeated persecution, resulted in a growing belief about the nation's vital role to the Jewish people, and created pride for its strength. Discourse about the extraordinary quality of the victory and the “liberation” of land provided the movement a religious, potentially salvific, meaning. In that triumphant era, much of existing hesitation regarding Zionism vanished. During the seventies, Commentary magazine editor Podhoretz famously proclaimed: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Agreement and Restrictions

The Zionist consensus did not include the ultra-Orthodox – who largely believed a nation should only be established via conventional understanding of redemption – however joined Reform, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of non-affiliated Jews. The predominant version of the consensus, what became known as liberal Zionism, was founded on the conviction about the nation as a progressive and liberal – while majority-Jewish – country. Many American Jews saw the administration of Arab, Syrian and Egypt's territories after 1967 as provisional, thinking that a solution would soon emerge that would guarantee a Jewish majority within Israel's original borders and Middle Eastern approval of the nation.

Multiple generations of American Jews grew up with support for Israel a fundamental aspect of their identity as Jews. The state transformed into a central part within religious instruction. Yom Ha'atzmaut turned into a celebration. Israeli flags were displayed in most synagogues. Summer camps integrated with national melodies and education of contemporary Hebrew, with visitors from Israel educating American teenagers Israeli customs. Visits to Israel increased and reached new heights via educational trips during that year, offering complimentary travel to the nation was offered to Jewish young adults. The state affected nearly every aspect of the American Jewish experience.

Changing Dynamics

Interestingly, throughout these years post-1967, Jewish Americans grew skilled regarding denominational coexistence. Acceptance and dialogue between Jewish denominations increased.

Except when it came to support for Israel – that represented diversity found its boundary. Individuals might align with a right-leaning advocate or a leftwing Zionist, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and challenging that narrative categorized you beyond accepted boundaries – outside the community, as a Jewish periodical termed it in writing in 2021.

However currently, amid of the destruction in Gaza, food shortages, young victims and frustration over the denial within Jewish communities who refuse to recognize their involvement, that unity has broken down. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer