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It has been that horrific attack of the events of October 7th, an event that profoundly impacted Jewish communities worldwide more than any event since the creation of the state of Israel.

For Jews it was profoundly disturbing. For Israel as a nation, it was deeply humiliating. The entire Zionist movement was founded on the belief that the nation would ensure against such atrocities occurring in the future.

A response was inevitable. Yet the chosen course undertaken by Israel – the obliteration of the Gaza Strip, the deaths and injuries of many thousands of civilians – constituted a specific policy. This selected path made more difficult the way numerous Jewish Americans grappled with the October 7th events that set it in motion, and currently challenges the community's remembrance of that date. In what way can people grieve and remember a tragedy targeting their community during a catastrophe being inflicted upon another people attributed to their identity?

The Complexity of Mourning

The challenge of mourning stems from the circumstance where no agreement exists regarding what any of this means. Actually, for the American Jewish community, the recent twenty-four months have witnessed the breakdown of a decades-long unity regarding Zionism.

The beginnings of a Zionist consensus among American Jewry can be traced to an early twentieth-century publication by the lawyer who would later become high court jurist Louis Brandeis named “The Jewish Question; How to Solve it”. But the consensus really takes hold after the 1967 conflict that year. Previously, Jewish Americans maintained a delicate yet functioning parallel existence among different factions holding diverse perspectives about the necessity for Israel – Zionists, non-Zionists and opponents.

Historical Context

This parallel existence continued through the post-war decades, through surviving aspects of Jewish socialism, in the non-Zionist Jewish communal organization, within the critical Jewish organization and comparable entities. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the head at JTS, pro-Israel ideology was more spiritual than political, and he did not permit performance of Hatikvah, the national song, at religious school events in the early 1960s. Additionally, support for Israel the centerpiece within modern Orthodox Judaism prior to the 1967 conflict. Different Jewish identity models existed alongside.

However following Israel routed neighboring countries in the six-day war that year, occupying territories comprising the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan and East Jerusalem, US Jewish connection with Israel underwent significant transformation. Israel’s victory, combined with longstanding fears regarding repeated persecution, produced a growing belief regarding Israel's vital role to the Jewish people, and a source of pride regarding its endurance. Rhetoric about the “miraculous” aspect of the success and the “liberation” of territory provided Zionism a theological, potentially salvific, significance. During that enthusiastic period, considerable existing hesitation regarding Zionism vanished. In that decade, Publication editor the commentator stated: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Its Boundaries

The unified position excluded strictly Orthodox communities – who typically thought a nation should only be ushered in via conventional understanding of redemption – yet included Reform, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and most secular Jews. The predominant version of this agreement, identified as left-leaning Zionism, was based on the idea regarding Israel as a progressive and free – while majority-Jewish – nation. Many American Jews considered the administration of Palestinian, Syria's and Egyptian lands post-1967 as temporary, believing that an agreement would soon emerge that would maintain a Jewish majority within Israel's original borders and neighbor recognition of the nation.

Two generations of American Jews were raised with Zionism a core part of their identity as Jews. The nation became a key component of Jewish education. Israel’s Independence Day turned into a celebration. Israeli flags adorned many temples. Youth programs became infused with Hebrew music and the study of contemporary Hebrew, with visitors from Israel and teaching American teenagers national traditions. Visits to Israel increased and achieved record numbers with Birthright Israel in 1999, when a free trip to the nation became available to Jewish young adults. The nation influenced almost the entirety of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Interestingly, during this period after 1967, American Jewry grew skilled at religious pluralism. Tolerance and discussion across various Jewish groups expanded.

Yet concerning the Israeli situation – that represented pluralism ended. You could be a conservative supporter or a leftwing Zionist, however endorsement of the nation as a majority-Jewish country remained unquestioned, and criticizing that narrative placed you outside the consensus – a non-conformist, as Tablet magazine described it in an essay recently.

But now, amid of the ruin within Gaza, famine, young victims and outrage about the rejection of many fellow Jews who avoid admitting their responsibility, that consensus has broken down. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer