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Marking two years after the horrific attack of October 7, 2023, an event that profoundly impacted global Jewish populations unlike anything else since the creation of the Jewish state.

Within Jewish communities it was shocking. For the state of Israel, it was a profound disgrace. The entire Zionist endeavor was founded on the belief which held that the Jewish state would ensure against things like this repeating.

A response was inevitable. But the response that Israel implemented – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the deaths and injuries of numerous non-combatants – represented a decision. This selected path complicated the perspective of many US Jewish community members understood the initial assault that precipitated the response, and currently challenges their remembrance of the day. How can someone mourn and commemorate a tragedy affecting their nation while simultaneously an atrocity being inflicted upon other individuals connected to their community?

The Challenge of Mourning

The complexity in grieving lies in the fact that there is no consensus about what any of this means. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, this two-year period have witnessed the disintegration of a half-century-old unity on Zionism itself.

The origins of Zionist agreement within US Jewish communities can be traced to an early twentieth-century publication authored by an attorney subsequently appointed supreme court justice Justice Brandeis called “Jewish Issues; Finding Solutions”. Yet the unity really takes hold after the six-day war in 1967. Earlier, American Jewry contained a vulnerable but enduring coexistence among different factions which maintained a range of views concerning the necessity for Israel – Zionists, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Historical Context

That coexistence endured during the mid-twentieth century, in remnants of Jewish socialism, through the non-aligned American Jewish Committee, among the opposing religious group and other organizations. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the head at JTS, Zionism had greater religious significance instead of governmental, and he forbade the singing of Israel's anthem, Hatikvah, at JTS ordinations during that period. Nor were support for Israel the main element of Modern Orthodoxy until after the six-day war. Alternative Jewish perspectives coexisted.

But after Israel overcame neighboring countries in that war in 1967, seizing land such as the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, US Jewish connection with the nation underwent significant transformation. The triumphant outcome, along with longstanding fears regarding repeated persecution, resulted in an increasing conviction regarding Israel's critical importance within Jewish identity, and created pride regarding its endurance. Rhetoric about the extraordinary aspect of the victory and the freeing of areas gave the movement a religious, almost redemptive, meaning. In that triumphant era, much of existing hesitation toward Israel dissipated. During the seventies, Writer Podhoretz stated: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Agreement and Restrictions

The unified position excluded the ultra-Orthodox – who generally maintained Israel should only emerge through traditional interpretation of the messiah – yet included Reform Judaism, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and nearly all unaffiliated individuals. The common interpretation of the unified position, identified as liberal Zionism, was based on a belief in Israel as a progressive and free – albeit ethnocentric – country. Numerous US Jews saw the occupation of Arab, Syrian and Egyptian lands following the war as temporary, thinking that a resolution would soon emerge that would ensure a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and neighbor recognition of the state.

Two generations of US Jews were raised with pro-Israel ideology an essential component of their Jewish identity. Israel became an important element of Jewish education. Israel’s Independence Day became a Jewish holiday. National symbols adorned many temples. Youth programs became infused with national melodies and education of the language, with Israelis visiting educating US young people Israeli customs. Visits to Israel increased and peaked via educational trips during that year, when a free trip to the nation was offered to US Jewish youth. The nation influenced virtually all areas of Jewish American identity.

Changing Dynamics

Ironically, throughout these years after 1967, US Jewish communities developed expertise in religious diversity. Tolerance and discussion among different Jewish movements increased.

Yet concerning support for Israel – that’s where diversity reached its limit. Individuals might align with a right-leaning advocate or a leftwing Zionist, but support for Israel as a Jewish homeland was a given, and questioning that position placed you beyond accepted boundaries – outside the community, as one publication labeled it in writing in 2021.

However currently, during of the destruction within Gaza, famine, dead and orphaned children and outrage over the denial of many fellow Jews who decline to acknowledge their complicity, that agreement has collapsed. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer