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It has been the horrific attack of October 7, 2023, which deeply affected world Jewry more than any event following the creation of the Jewish state.

Among Jewish people the event proved shocking. For the state of Israel, the situation represented a significant embarrassment. The whole Zionist endeavor rested on the presumption that the nation could stop such atrocities repeating.

Some form of retaliation was inevitable. Yet the chosen course undertaken by Israel – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the casualties of tens of thousands non-combatants – was a choice. And this choice made more difficult the way numerous US Jewish community members grappled with the initial assault that set it in motion, and presently makes difficult their observance of that date. In what way can people grieve and remember a horrific event targeting their community in the midst of a catastrophe being inflicted upon another people connected to their community?

The Complexity of Mourning

The complexity in grieving exists because of the circumstance where no agreement exists regarding what any of this means. Actually, among Jewish Americans, the last two years have seen the breakdown of a fifty-year unity on Zionism itself.

The origins of Zionist agreement across American Jewish populations can be traced to writings from 1915 written by a legal scholar subsequently appointed high court jurist Louis D. Brandeis called “The Jewish Problem; Finding Solutions”. Yet the unity became firmly established subsequent to the 1967 conflict in 1967. Earlier, Jewish Americans contained a vulnerable but enduring coexistence across various segments that had a range of views about the requirement for a Jewish nation – Zionists, non-Zionists and opponents.

Previous Developments

That coexistence continued through the 1950s and 60s, in remnants of socialist Jewish movements, in the non-Zionist American Jewish Committee, within the critical religious group and similar institutions. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Zionism was primarily theological than political, and he prohibited singing Israel's anthem, the Israeli national anthem, at JTS ordinations during that period. Furthermore, Zionism and pro-Israelism the central focus within modern Orthodox Judaism prior to the six-day war. Alternative Jewish perspectives existed alongside.

However following Israel overcame neighboring countries during the 1967 conflict that year, occupying territories comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish connection with the country changed dramatically. Israel’s victory, coupled with enduring anxieties of a “second Holocaust”, produced a developing perspective about the nation's essential significance to the Jewish people, and generated admiration regarding its endurance. Rhetoric regarding the extraordinary aspect of the success and the freeing of land provided Zionism a religious, even messianic, importance. In those heady years, much of existing hesitation toward Israel dissipated. In the early 1970s, Commentary magazine editor the commentator famously proclaimed: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”

The Consensus and Its Limits

The pro-Israel agreement did not include strictly Orthodox communities – who largely believed a nation should only be ushered in by a traditional rendering of redemption – yet included Reform, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of unaffiliated individuals. The common interpretation of the consensus, what became known as liberal Zionism, was established on a belief about the nation as a democratic and democratic – while majority-Jewish – country. Numerous US Jews saw the occupation of Arab, Syria's and Egyptian lands after 1967 as temporary, assuming that a solution was imminent that would ensure a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and neighbor recognition of the state.

Multiple generations of US Jews were raised with pro-Israel ideology a core part of their religious identity. Israel became an important element of Jewish education. Israel’s Independence Day evolved into a religious observance. Israeli flags decorated religious institutions. Youth programs became infused with Hebrew music and education of the language, with Israeli guests educating American youth national traditions. Visits to Israel expanded and reached new heights through Birthright programs during that year, when a free trip to the nation was offered to Jewish young adults. The state affected nearly every aspect of US Jewish life.

Evolving Situation

Paradoxically, throughout these years post-1967, Jewish Americans developed expertise regarding denominational coexistence. Acceptance and dialogue across various Jewish groups grew.

Yet concerning the Israeli situation – there existed pluralism found its boundary. Individuals might align with a right-leaning advocate or a progressive supporter, but support for Israel as a Jewish homeland was a given, and challenging that perspective categorized you beyond accepted boundaries – an “Un-Jew”, as a Jewish periodical labeled it in a piece that year.

Yet presently, amid of the ruin within Gaza, famine, dead and orphaned children and outrage over the denial of many fellow Jews who refuse to recognize their complicity, that agreement has disintegrated. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer