🔗 Share this article

Two years have passed since that horrific attack of 7 October 2023, an event that profoundly impacted global Jewish populations more than any event since the establishment of the state of Israel.

Within Jewish communities the event proved deeply traumatic. For the state of Israel, it was deeply humiliating. The whole Zionist movement was founded on the assumption which held that the nation would ensure against things like this from ever happening again.

Some form of retaliation was inevitable. Yet the chosen course Israel pursued – the obliteration of Gaza, the killing and maiming of tens of thousands non-combatants – constituted a specific policy. This particular approach made more difficult the perspective of many Jewish Americans understood the initial assault that precipitated the response, and presently makes difficult the community's observance of the day. How can someone mourn and commemorate a horrific event against your people during devastation done to another people in your name?

The Difficulty of Grieving

The difficulty surrounding remembrance lies in the fact that little unity prevails about what any of this means. Indeed, for the American Jewish community, the recent twenty-four months have seen the disintegration of a half-century-old unity on Zionism itself.

The early development of pro-Israel unity across American Jewish populations can be traced to an early twentieth-century publication written by a legal scholar who would later become Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis titled “Jewish Issues; How to Solve it”. But the consensus really takes hold after the six-day war during 1967. Before then, Jewish Americans contained a vulnerable but enduring cohabitation across various segments that had different opinions concerning the need for Israel – Zionists, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Historical Context

That coexistence endured throughout the post-war decades, within remaining elements of Jewish socialism, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, within the critical Jewish organization and other organizations. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the leader at JTS, the Zionist movement had greater religious significance instead of governmental, and he prohibited performance of Hatikvah, the national song, at religious school events during that period. Furthermore, support for Israel the central focus for contemporary Orthodox communities until after the 1967 conflict. Different Jewish identity models coexisted.

However following Israel defeated neighboring countries during the 1967 conflict in 1967, taking control of areas including Palestinian territories, Gaza, the Golan and East Jerusalem, US Jewish relationship to Israel evolved considerably. The triumphant outcome, combined with longstanding fears about another genocide, resulted in a developing perspective regarding Israel's vital role to the Jewish people, and generated admiration for its strength. Discourse about the remarkable aspect of the success and the “liberation” of territory assigned the movement a theological, even messianic, significance. During that enthusiastic period, considerable the remaining ambivalence regarding Zionism dissipated. In the early 1970s, Commentary magazine editor Podhoretz declared: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Unity and Its Limits

The Zionist consensus excluded Haredi Jews – who typically thought Israel should only be established by a traditional rendering of the Messiah – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and nearly all secular Jews. The common interpretation of the unified position, later termed left-leaning Zionism, was founded on a belief about the nation as a democratic and free – albeit ethnocentric – country. Numerous US Jews viewed the administration of Arab, Syrian and Egypt's territories following the war as temporary, assuming that a solution was forthcoming that would ensure a Jewish majority within Israel's original borders and neighbor recognition of Israel.

Multiple generations of Jewish Americans were raised with pro-Israel ideology a core part of their identity as Jews. Israel became an important element within religious instruction. Israeli national day evolved into a religious observance. Israeli flags were displayed in religious institutions. Summer camps became infused with Hebrew music and education of modern Hebrew, with visitors from Israel and teaching US young people Israeli customs. Travel to Israel grew and achieved record numbers through Birthright programs in 1999, offering complimentary travel to the country was offered to Jewish young adults. The nation influenced virtually all areas of US Jewish life.

Evolving Situation

Paradoxically, during this period post-1967, Jewish Americans became adept regarding denominational coexistence. Open-mindedness and dialogue between Jewish denominations grew.

Yet concerning Zionism and Israel – that’s where diversity found its boundary. Individuals might align with a rightwing Zionist or a liberal advocate, yet backing Israel as a Jewish state was a given, and criticizing that narrative placed you outside the consensus – an “Un-Jew”, as Tablet magazine termed it in writing that year.

However currently, under the weight of the ruin within Gaza, food shortages, dead and orphaned children and outrage regarding the refusal by numerous Jewish individuals who refuse to recognize their complicity, that unity has collapsed. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer