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It has been the horrific attack of the events of October 7th, an event that shook global Jewish populations like no other occurrence since the establishment of Israel as a nation.

Within Jewish communities the event proved shocking. For the Israeli government, it was a profound disgrace. The entire Zionist endeavor rested on the assumption that the nation would ensure against things like this occurring in the future.

Military action seemed necessary. Yet the chosen course Israel pursued – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands non-combatants – was a choice. This selected path complicated how many US Jewish community members grappled with the October 7th events that triggered it, and it now complicates the community's observance of that date. How can someone grieve and remember a tragedy targeting their community while simultaneously an atrocity experienced by another people in your name?

The Difficulty of Grieving

The challenge surrounding remembrance lies in the fact that no agreement exists as to what any of this means. In fact, among Jewish Americans, this two-year period have witnessed the breakdown of a half-century-old agreement about the Zionist movement.

The origins of a Zionist consensus within US Jewish communities extends as far back as writings from 1915 authored by an attorney and then future supreme court justice Louis D. Brandeis titled “Jewish Issues; How to Solve it”. But the consensus really takes hold following the six-day war that year. Previously, US Jewish communities housed a delicate yet functioning coexistence among different factions that had a range of views concerning the need for a Jewish nation – Zionists, non-Zionists and opponents.

Previous Developments

That coexistence continued throughout the mid-twentieth century, within remaining elements of Jewish socialism, within the neutral Jewish communal organization, within the critical religious group and other organizations. For Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor at JTS, Zionism had greater religious significance instead of governmental, and he did not permit the singing of Hatikvah, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies in those years. Nor were support for Israel the main element for contemporary Orthodox communities until after that war. Jewish identitarian alternatives existed alongside.

But after Israel routed neighboring countries in that war in 1967, seizing land such as the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, US Jewish relationship to the country evolved considerably. Israel’s victory, combined with longstanding fears regarding repeated persecution, led to a developing perspective in the country’s essential significance within Jewish identity, and generated admiration regarding its endurance. Discourse regarding the extraordinary aspect of the victory and the freeing of territory gave the movement a theological, almost redemptive, significance. In those heady years, a significant portion of previous uncertainty regarding Zionism disappeared. In that decade, Writer Norman Podhoretz stated: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Agreement and Its Boundaries

The unified position excluded Haredi Jews – who largely believed a Jewish state should only be ushered in via conventional understanding of the messiah – but united Reform Judaism, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of non-affiliated Jews. The most popular form of the consensus, what became known as left-leaning Zionism, was founded on the conviction regarding Israel as a liberal and liberal – albeit ethnocentric – state. Numerous US Jews considered the occupation of Arab, Syrian and Egyptian lands after 1967 as temporary, believing that a solution was forthcoming that would guarantee Jewish population majority within Israel's original borders and neighbor recognition of the state.

Two generations of American Jews grew up with pro-Israel ideology a fundamental aspect of their religious identity. The state transformed into a central part of Jewish education. Israeli national day became a Jewish holiday. National symbols adorned religious institutions. Seasonal activities were permeated with national melodies and the study of modern Hebrew, with visitors from Israel instructing American teenagers national traditions. Trips to the nation grew and reached new heights via educational trips in 1999, when a free trip to Israel became available to young American Jews. The state affected nearly every aspect of US Jewish life.

Shifting Landscape

Ironically, throughout these years after 1967, American Jewry grew skilled at religious pluralism. Open-mindedness and discussion among different Jewish movements expanded.

However regarding Zionism and Israel – that represented tolerance found its boundary. Individuals might align with a conservative supporter or a progressive supporter, but support for Israel as a Jewish homeland was a given, and challenging that position positioned you outside mainstream views – a non-conformist, as a Jewish periodical termed it in writing that year.

But now, during of the destruction in Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and frustration about the rejection within Jewish communities who decline to acknowledge their complicity, that unity has broken down. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer