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It has been the mass murder of 7 October 2023, which profoundly impacted world Jewry like no other occurrence since the creation of the state of Israel.

For Jews the event proved deeply traumatic. For the Israeli government, the situation represented a significant embarrassment. The whole Zionist project had been established on the presumption which held that the Jewish state could stop things like this from ever happening again.

Military action seemed necessary. But the response Israel pursued – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the deaths and injuries of numerous ordinary people – constituted a specific policy. This selected path complicated how many American Jews processed the October 7th events that set it in motion, and it now complicates the community's commemoration of the anniversary. How does one honor and reflect on a horrific event against your people while simultaneously a catastrophe done to another people connected to their community?

The Complexity of Remembrance

The difficulty in grieving lies in the fact that there is no consensus as to what any of this means. In fact, among Jewish Americans, the recent twenty-four months have experienced the collapse of a decades-long consensus about the Zionist movement.

The early development of pro-Israel unity across American Jewish populations dates back to writings from 1915 authored by an attorney and then future supreme court justice Louis D. Brandeis named “The Jewish Question; How to Solve it”. But the consensus truly solidified after the 1967 conflict in 1967. Earlier, Jewish Americans maintained a delicate yet functioning coexistence among different factions that had a range of views concerning the requirement of a Jewish state – pro-Israel advocates, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Previous Developments

Such cohabitation endured throughout the mid-twentieth century, in remnants of leftist Jewish organizations, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, in the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism and other organizations. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Zionism was more spiritual rather than political, and he prohibited singing Israel's anthem, Hatikvah, at JTS ordinations in the early 1960s. Nor were support for Israel the central focus of Modern Orthodoxy before the six-day war. Alternative Jewish perspectives coexisted.

However following Israel overcame adjacent nations in that war in 1967, seizing land including Palestinian territories, Gaza, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, US Jewish connection with Israel changed dramatically. The military success, combined with persistent concerns about another genocide, produced a growing belief regarding Israel's critical importance for Jewish communities, and created pride for its strength. Rhetoric regarding the remarkable quality of the victory and the reclaiming of land provided the movement a spiritual, even messianic, significance. During that enthusiastic period, considerable the remaining ambivalence toward Israel disappeared. During the seventies, Publication editor the commentator declared: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”

The Consensus and Its Boundaries

The Zionist consensus excluded the ultra-Orthodox – who generally maintained a Jewish state should only be established through traditional interpretation of the Messiah – but united Reform Judaism, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of secular Jews. The predominant version of this agreement, later termed liberal Zionism, was established on the conviction in Israel as a progressive and free – albeit ethnocentric – country. Many American Jews viewed the administration of local, Syrian and Egyptian lands post-1967 as not permanent, assuming that an agreement would soon emerge that would guarantee Jewish demographic dominance within Israel's original borders and Middle Eastern approval of the state.

Several cohorts of US Jews were thus brought up with pro-Israel ideology a fundamental aspect of their identity as Jews. The nation became a central part within religious instruction. Yom Ha'atzmaut became a Jewish holiday. National symbols decorated most synagogues. Seasonal activities integrated with Israeli songs and the study of the language, with visitors from Israel and teaching American youth Israeli culture. Visits to Israel expanded and peaked through Birthright programs by 1999, providing no-cost visits to Israel became available to young American Jews. The nation influenced nearly every aspect of Jewish American identity.

Evolving Situation

Ironically, in these decades post-1967, American Jewry developed expertise regarding denominational coexistence. Acceptance and discussion among different Jewish movements expanded.

Except when it came to support for Israel – that represented tolerance found its boundary. You could be a right-leaning advocate or a liberal advocate, yet backing Israel as a majority-Jewish country remained unquestioned, and questioning that position positioned you outside the consensus – outside the community, as one publication termed it in writing in 2021.

However currently, under the weight of the destruction of Gaza, food shortages, child casualties and frustration over the denial of many fellow Jews who refuse to recognize their complicity, that unity has broken down. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer