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Two years have passed since that mass murder of October 7, 2023, which deeply affected world Jewry like no other occurrence following the establishment of the Jewish state.

Within Jewish communities it was shocking. For Israel as a nation, it was a significant embarrassment. The entire Zionist endeavor had been established on the presumption that Israel would ensure against similar tragedies repeating.

A response was inevitable. But the response that Israel implemented – the obliteration of the Gaza Strip, the casualties of many thousands non-combatants – was a choice. This selected path made more difficult the perspective of many US Jewish community members grappled with the October 7th events that precipitated the response, and presently makes difficult their commemoration of that date. How can someone honor and reflect on an atrocity against your people during a catastrophe being inflicted upon another people attributed to their identity?

The Difficulty of Remembrance

The challenge surrounding remembrance lies in the fact that little unity prevails about the implications of these developments. Indeed, within US Jewish circles, this two-year period have experienced the breakdown of a decades-long consensus regarding Zionism.

The origins of a Zionist consensus within US Jewish communities can be traced to a 1915 essay authored by an attorney who would later become supreme court justice Louis Brandeis named “The Jewish Problem; Finding Solutions”. But the consensus truly solidified following the 1967 conflict during 1967. Previously, American Jewry housed a delicate yet functioning cohabitation among different factions that had a range of views regarding the requirement for Israel – Zionists, neutral parties and opponents.

Historical Context

That coexistence persisted during the post-war decades, in remnants of Jewish socialism, within the neutral US Jewish group, in the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism and comparable entities. For Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor at JTS, the Zionist movement was more spiritual than political, and he did not permit singing the Israeli national anthem, the national song, during seminary ceremonies during that period. Furthermore, Zionist ideology the main element within modern Orthodox Judaism until after the 1967 conflict. Alternative Jewish perspectives coexisted.

Yet after Israel routed its neighbors in that war that year, seizing land including Palestinian territories, Gaza, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish connection with Israel evolved considerably. Israel’s victory, along with longstanding fears about another genocide, resulted in a developing perspective about the nation's vital role to the Jewish people, and created pride for its strength. Language concerning the “miraculous” nature of the outcome and the reclaiming of territory provided the Zionist project a theological, potentially salvific, significance. In those heady years, much of previous uncertainty about Zionism disappeared. In that decade, Commentary magazine editor Norman Podhoretz declared: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The unified position left out the ultra-Orthodox – who largely believed a Jewish state should only emerge through traditional interpretation of redemption – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of unaffiliated individuals. The predominant version of the unified position, later termed progressive Zionism, was based on the idea in Israel as a liberal and free – though Jewish-centered – country. Countless Jewish Americans considered the control of Palestinian, Syrian and Egyptian lands post-1967 as provisional, thinking that a solution would soon emerge that would ensure Jewish demographic dominance in Israel proper and Middle Eastern approval of Israel.

Several cohorts of US Jews grew up with support for Israel a fundamental aspect of their identity as Jews. The nation became a central part in Jewish learning. Yom Ha'atzmaut became a Jewish holiday. Israeli flags decorated many temples. Summer camps were permeated with Israeli songs and the study of contemporary Hebrew, with Israelis visiting and teaching American youth national traditions. Trips to the nation expanded and peaked with Birthright Israel by 1999, offering complimentary travel to the nation became available to US Jewish youth. Israel permeated nearly every aspect of US Jewish life.

Changing Dynamics

Interestingly, during this period after 1967, Jewish Americans developed expertise at religious pluralism. Acceptance and dialogue among different Jewish movements increased.

Yet concerning the Israeli situation – that’s where diversity found its boundary. One could identify as a right-leaning advocate or a progressive supporter, yet backing Israel as a Jewish state remained unquestioned, and criticizing that narrative categorized you beyond accepted boundaries – a non-conformist, as Tablet magazine labeled it in writing that year.

But now, during of the devastation within Gaza, starvation, young victims and outrage about the rejection within Jewish communities who avoid admitting their involvement, that agreement has disintegrated. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer