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Two years have passed since that horrific attack of the events of October 7th, an event that shook world Jewry more than any event since the creation of the Jewish state.

For Jews it was deeply traumatic. For the Israeli government, it was a profound disgrace. The whole Zionist project had been established on the belief that the nation would prevent such atrocities occurring in the future.

A response appeared unavoidable. But the response that Israel implemented – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the killing and maiming of tens of thousands ordinary people – represented a decision. This selected path complicated the way numerous US Jewish community members grappled with the attack that set it in motion, and presently makes difficult their commemoration of the anniversary. How does one mourn and commemorate a tragedy affecting their nation in the midst of an atrocity done to a different population in your name?

The Complexity of Remembrance

The complexity of mourning stems from the reality that there is no consensus as to the implications of these developments. Indeed, within US Jewish circles, the last two years have experienced the disintegration of a half-century-old unity about the Zionist movement.

The early development of a Zionist consensus within US Jewish communities can be traced to writings from 1915 written by a legal scholar and then future high court jurist Louis Brandeis titled “The Jewish Problem; Finding Solutions”. Yet the unity became firmly established after the Six-Day War in 1967. Earlier, American Jewry maintained a vulnerable but enduring cohabitation among different factions which maintained different opinions about the need for Israel – Zionists, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Historical Context

That coexistence persisted throughout the mid-twentieth century, through surviving aspects of socialist Jewish movements, within the neutral American Jewish Committee, in the anti-Zionist religious group and comparable entities. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the head at JTS, pro-Israel ideology was more spiritual rather than political, and he prohibited the singing of Hatikvah, the national song, at religious school events during that period. Nor were Zionist ideology the central focus for contemporary Orthodox communities until after that war. Alternative Jewish perspectives remained present.

But after Israel routed its neighbors in the six-day war that year, seizing land such as the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, the American Jewish perspective on the country underwent significant transformation. The triumphant outcome, coupled with persistent concerns of a “second Holocaust”, led to an increasing conviction regarding Israel's critical importance to the Jewish people, and created pride regarding its endurance. Rhetoric regarding the extraordinary nature of the outcome and the reclaiming of areas provided the movement a religious, almost redemptive, significance. In those heady years, a significant portion of previous uncertainty about Zionism dissipated. In that decade, Publication editor the commentator famously proclaimed: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Consensus and Its Limits

The unified position did not include Haredi Jews – who largely believed a Jewish state should only emerge via conventional understanding of the Messiah – yet included Reform, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and most unaffiliated individuals. The predominant version of the unified position, later termed progressive Zionism, was founded on the idea in Israel as a democratic and free – albeit ethnocentric – country. Countless Jewish Americans viewed the occupation of Palestinian, Syria's and Egyptian lands post-1967 as temporary, thinking that a resolution was imminent that would maintain Jewish demographic dominance in pre-1967 Israel and regional acceptance of the state.

Several cohorts of Jewish Americans were raised with support for Israel a fundamental aspect of their Jewish identity. Israel became an important element within religious instruction. Israel’s Independence Day became a Jewish holiday. Israeli flags adorned religious institutions. Seasonal activities became infused with Hebrew music and the study of contemporary Hebrew, with Israeli guests instructing American youth national traditions. Travel to Israel grew and peaked with Birthright Israel during that year, providing no-cost visits to Israel was provided to Jewish young adults. The state affected nearly every aspect of Jewish American identity.

Evolving Situation

Ironically, throughout these years following the war, US Jewish communities became adept regarding denominational coexistence. Open-mindedness and discussion among different Jewish movements increased.

Yet concerning Zionism and Israel – that’s where pluralism found its boundary. One could identify as a right-leaning advocate or a progressive supporter, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish state was assumed, and questioning that perspective placed you outside mainstream views – an “Un-Jew”, as a Jewish periodical labeled it in an essay that year.

Yet presently, during of the ruin in Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and anger about the rejection within Jewish communities who refuse to recognize their involvement, that unity has broken down. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer