🔗 Share this article

Two years have passed since that horrific attack of the events of October 7th, an event that deeply affected Jewish communities worldwide more than any event since the creation of Israel as a nation.

Among Jewish people the event proved shocking. For the state of Israel, it was a profound disgrace. The whole Zionist project rested on the presumption which held that the nation would prevent things like this occurring in the future.

A response appeared unavoidable. However, the particular response Israel pursued – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the deaths and injuries of many thousands of civilians – represented a decision. This selected path made more difficult how many Jewish Americans understood the initial assault that triggered it, and currently challenges their commemoration of that date. How can someone mourn and commemorate a tragedy against your people while simultaneously devastation being inflicted upon other individuals connected to their community?

The Difficulty of Remembrance

The difficulty of mourning exists because of the reality that little unity prevails regarding the significance of these events. Actually, within US Jewish circles, the last two years have seen the breakdown of a decades-long agreement on Zionism itself.

The early development of pro-Israel unity among American Jewry can be traced to an early twentieth-century publication authored by an attorney subsequently appointed supreme court justice Louis D. Brandeis titled “The Jewish Problem; How to Solve it”. But the consensus really takes hold following the Six-Day War that year. Previously, American Jewry maintained a delicate yet functioning coexistence among different factions which maintained a range of views regarding the need of a Jewish state – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Previous Developments

Such cohabitation persisted throughout the 1950s and 60s, in remnants of Jewish socialism, within the neutral Jewish communal organization, in the anti-Zionist religious group and similar institutions. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor at JTS, Zionism was primarily theological than political, and he prohibited the singing of the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, at religious school events in those years. Additionally, Zionist ideology the central focus within modern Orthodox Judaism before the six-day war. Jewish identitarian alternatives coexisted.

However following Israel routed adjacent nations in the six-day war that year, occupying territories comprising Palestinian territories, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, US Jewish relationship to the country changed dramatically. The triumphant outcome, along with enduring anxieties of a “second Holocaust”, resulted in an increasing conviction regarding Israel's critical importance within Jewish identity, and a source of pride regarding its endurance. Language about the “miraculous” aspect of the success and the freeing of areas assigned Zionism a theological, even messianic, meaning. In that triumphant era, considerable previous uncertainty about Zionism vanished. During the seventies, Publication editor Norman Podhoretz famously proclaimed: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Consensus and Its Boundaries

The pro-Israel agreement did not include the ultra-Orthodox – who largely believed Israel should only be established by a traditional rendering of redemption – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and nearly all secular Jews. The predominant version of this agreement, identified as left-leaning Zionism, was established on a belief about the nation as a liberal and democratic – while majority-Jewish – country. Many American Jews viewed the control of local, Syria's and Egyptian lands following the war as provisional, believing that a solution would soon emerge that would maintain Jewish population majority within Israel's original borders and regional acceptance of the state.

Two generations of Jewish Americans were raised with Zionism an essential component of their Jewish identity. Israel became an important element of Jewish education. Yom Ha'atzmaut became a Jewish holiday. National symbols decorated religious institutions. Seasonal activities integrated with Israeli songs and learning of modern Hebrew, with visitors from Israel and teaching American youth Israeli customs. Trips to the nation expanded and peaked with Birthright Israel in 1999, offering complimentary travel to the country was provided to young American Jews. Israel permeated virtually all areas of US Jewish life.

Evolving Situation

Ironically, during this period post-1967, American Jewry grew skilled at religious pluralism. Acceptance and communication among different Jewish movements increased.

Except when it came to the Israeli situation – there existed tolerance found its boundary. Individuals might align with a conservative supporter or a leftwing Zionist, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish state was a given, and criticizing that perspective positioned you outside the consensus – outside the community, as a Jewish periodical labeled it in an essay that year.

Yet presently, amid of the devastation of Gaza, starvation, young victims and anger over the denial by numerous Jewish individuals who refuse to recognize their involvement, that unity has disintegrated. The centrist pro-Israel view {has lost|no longer