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Marking two years after the mass murder of 7 October 2023, which deeply affected Jewish communities worldwide more than any event since the creation of Israel as a nation.

For Jews the event proved shocking. For the Israeli government, the situation represented a significant embarrassment. The entire Zionist endeavor rested on the assumption that the Jewish state could stop such atrocities occurring in the future.

A response seemed necessary. But the response undertaken by Israel – the obliteration of the Gaza Strip, the deaths and injuries of many thousands of civilians – was a choice. This selected path created complexity in the way numerous Jewish Americans processed the October 7th events that set it in motion, and it now complicates their commemoration of the anniversary. How does one mourn and commemorate a tragedy against your people in the midst of a catastrophe experienced by a different population connected to their community?

The Difficulty of Mourning

The difficulty in grieving stems from the fact that little unity prevails as to what any of this means. In fact, for the American Jewish community, the last two years have seen the collapse of a half-century-old unity about the Zionist movement.

The origins of a Zionist consensus within US Jewish communities extends as far back as writings from 1915 by the lawyer and then future Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis titled “The Jewish Question; Addressing the Challenge”. However, the agreement truly solidified following the six-day war that year. Before then, American Jewry contained a delicate yet functioning parallel existence across various segments that had diverse perspectives regarding the need for Israel – Zionists, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Background Information

That coexistence persisted throughout the 1950s and 60s, in remnants of leftist Jewish organizations, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, within the critical Jewish organization and similar institutions. For Louis Finkelstein, the head of the theological institution, the Zionist movement had greater religious significance than political, and he prohibited singing Israel's anthem, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies in those years. Furthermore, Zionist ideology the main element of Modern Orthodoxy prior to the 1967 conflict. Different Jewish identity models existed alongside.

Yet after Israel defeated its neighbors during the 1967 conflict that year, taking control of areas including Palestinian territories, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish relationship to the nation evolved considerably. The military success, along with persistent concerns of a “second Holocaust”, resulted in a developing perspective regarding Israel's critical importance for Jewish communities, and created pride in its resilience. Rhetoric concerning the extraordinary quality of the outcome and the reclaiming of areas provided Zionism a theological, potentially salvific, importance. In those heady years, considerable existing hesitation toward Israel disappeared. During the seventies, Commentary magazine editor Norman Podhoretz famously proclaimed: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The pro-Israel agreement left out Haredi Jews – who generally maintained a nation should only be ushered in by a traditional rendering of redemption – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and nearly all unaffiliated individuals. The common interpretation of this agreement, identified as liberal Zionism, was based on the idea about the nation as a liberal and liberal – albeit ethnocentric – country. Countless Jewish Americans viewed the administration of Palestinian, Syrian and Egyptian lands post-1967 as temporary, believing that a solution was imminent that would ensure Jewish demographic dominance in Israel proper and neighbor recognition of the nation.

Two generations of American Jews grew up with Zionism a fundamental aspect of their identity as Jews. The state transformed into an important element in Jewish learning. Yom Ha'atzmaut became a Jewish holiday. Blue and white banners were displayed in most synagogues. Youth programs were permeated with Hebrew music and education of the language, with visitors from Israel educating American teenagers national traditions. Travel to Israel increased and peaked via educational trips during that year, offering complimentary travel to the country was provided to Jewish young adults. The state affected virtually all areas of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Interestingly, during this period post-1967, Jewish Americans became adept at religious pluralism. Acceptance and communication among different Jewish movements increased.

Except when it came to the Israeli situation – that represented tolerance found its boundary. You could be a right-leaning advocate or a liberal advocate, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and challenging that position positioned you beyond accepted boundaries – an “Un-Jew”, as one publication termed it in writing in 2021.

However currently, under the weight of the ruin of Gaza, starvation, child casualties and frustration over the denial within Jewish communities who avoid admitting their responsibility, that consensus has disintegrated. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer