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Two years have passed since that deadly assault of the events of October 7th, an event that shook global Jewish populations more than any event since the establishment of Israel as a nation.

Among Jewish people it was profoundly disturbing. For Israel as a nation, it was deeply humiliating. The whole Zionist project had been established on the presumption that the Jewish state would prevent similar tragedies occurring in the future.

Some form of retaliation was inevitable. But the response that Israel implemented – the widespread destruction of Gaza, the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of civilians – constituted a specific policy. This particular approach created complexity in the perspective of many US Jewish community members grappled with the October 7th events that triggered it, and currently challenges the community's observance of the day. How can someone grieve and remember an atrocity targeting their community in the midst of devastation done to another people attributed to their identity?

The Challenge of Mourning

The challenge of mourning lies in the fact that little unity prevails as to the significance of these events. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, the last two years have experienced the collapse of a fifty-year consensus regarding Zionism.

The beginnings of pro-Israel unity within US Jewish communities dates back to an early twentieth-century publication by the lawyer who would later become high court jurist Justice Brandeis titled “The Jewish Problem; Finding Solutions”. Yet the unity really takes hold after the six-day war during 1967. Previously, American Jewry housed a delicate yet functioning cohabitation among different factions which maintained a range of views regarding the necessity of a Jewish state – Zionists, neutral parties and opponents.

Historical Context

That coexistence endured during the 1950s and 60s, in remnants of socialist Jewish movements, within the neutral Jewish communal organization, within the critical American Council for Judaism and other organizations. For Louis Finkelstein, the leader at JTS, pro-Israel ideology was primarily theological instead of governmental, and he prohibited performance of Hatikvah, the national song, at religious school events during that period. Additionally, Zionist ideology the central focus of Modern Orthodoxy until after the 1967 conflict. Alternative Jewish perspectives coexisted.

But after Israel routed adjacent nations during the 1967 conflict during that period, seizing land such as the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, US Jewish perspective on the country changed dramatically. The military success, coupled with longstanding fears about another genocide, produced a growing belief about the nation's vital role to the Jewish people, and generated admiration in its resilience. Discourse concerning the remarkable quality of the outcome and the “liberation” of territory gave Zionism a theological, almost redemptive, meaning. In those heady years, a significant portion of the remaining ambivalence about Zionism dissipated. During the seventies, Publication editor Podhoretz declared: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Its Boundaries

The pro-Israel agreement excluded strictly Orthodox communities – who typically thought a nation should only emerge through traditional interpretation of the messiah – but united Reform, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and most non-affiliated Jews. The common interpretation of the unified position, identified as left-leaning Zionism, was established on a belief in Israel as a democratic and democratic – albeit ethnocentric – nation. Many American Jews viewed the occupation of Palestinian, Syrian and Egyptian lands after 1967 as temporary, thinking that a solution was forthcoming that would guarantee Jewish population majority in pre-1967 Israel and neighbor recognition of the nation.

Multiple generations of American Jews were thus brought up with support for Israel a core part of their Jewish identity. The state transformed into a central part of Jewish education. Yom Ha'atzmaut evolved into a religious observance. National symbols were displayed in many temples. Summer camps integrated with national melodies and learning of the language, with visitors from Israel and teaching American teenagers Israeli customs. Travel to Israel increased and peaked via educational trips in 1999, when a free trip to Israel was provided to Jewish young adults. The state affected nearly every aspect of the American Jewish experience.

Changing Dynamics

Interestingly, throughout these years following the war, Jewish Americans grew skilled at religious pluralism. Open-mindedness and dialogue among different Jewish movements expanded.

Yet concerning support for Israel – that’s where diversity reached its limit. Individuals might align with a rightwing Zionist or a progressive supporter, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish state remained unquestioned, and criticizing that narrative positioned you outside mainstream views – a non-conformist, as a Jewish periodical described it in writing in 2021.

But now, during of the destruction of Gaza, starvation, young victims and frustration about the rejection of many fellow Jews who avoid admitting their complicity, that unity has collapsed. The centrist pro-Israel view {has lost|no longer