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Marking two years after the deadly assault of 7 October 2023, an event that profoundly impacted world Jewry unlike anything else since the creation of the Jewish state.

Among Jewish people it was shocking. For the state of Israel, the situation represented a profound disgrace. The whole Zionist endeavor had been established on the assumption which held that the Jewish state could stop such atrocities repeating.

Military action appeared unavoidable. But the response Israel pursued – the obliteration of the Gaza Strip, the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands ordinary people – represented a decision. And this choice made more difficult how many American Jews understood the initial assault that precipitated the response, and currently challenges the community's observance of that date. In what way can people grieve and remember a horrific event targeting their community during an atrocity done to a different population connected to their community?

The Challenge of Remembrance

The challenge surrounding remembrance exists because of the fact that little unity prevails regarding the significance of these events. Actually, among Jewish Americans, the recent twenty-four months have experienced the breakdown of a half-century-old consensus about the Zionist movement.

The beginnings of Zionist agreement among American Jewry can be traced to an early twentieth-century publication by the lawyer subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis titled “The Jewish Question; Addressing the Challenge”. However, the agreement became firmly established subsequent to the Six-Day War during 1967. Before then, American Jewry housed a fragile but stable coexistence among different factions which maintained diverse perspectives about the necessity for a Jewish nation – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Previous Developments

This parallel existence continued during the 1950s and 60s, through surviving aspects of Jewish socialism, in the non-Zionist Jewish communal organization, in the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism and similar institutions. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the leader of the theological institution, Zionism was primarily theological rather than political, and he did not permit performance of Israel's anthem, the national song, at JTS ordinations during that period. Furthermore, Zionist ideology the central focus of Modern Orthodoxy prior to that war. Alternative Jewish perspectives coexisted.

But after Israel defeated its neighbors in the six-day war that year, occupying territories comprising the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, US Jewish relationship to the nation underwent significant transformation. The military success, along with persistent concerns of a “second Holocaust”, led to a developing perspective regarding Israel's critical importance within Jewish identity, and a source of pride regarding its endurance. Language regarding the “miraculous” nature of the outcome and the freeing of areas assigned the Zionist project a religious, even messianic, significance. In that triumphant era, considerable existing hesitation toward Israel dissipated. In that decade, Commentary magazine editor the commentator famously proclaimed: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Consensus and Restrictions

The unified position excluded strictly Orthodox communities – who largely believed Israel should only be established through traditional interpretation of redemption – but united Reform, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and nearly all secular Jews. The predominant version of the consensus, identified as liberal Zionism, was founded on a belief in Israel as a progressive and free – albeit ethnocentric – country. Numerous US Jews viewed the administration of local, Syria's and Egyptian lands following the war as provisional, thinking that an agreement would soon emerge that would guarantee Jewish demographic dominance in pre-1967 Israel and neighbor recognition of the nation.

Multiple generations of US Jews grew up with pro-Israel ideology a core part of their religious identity. Israel became a central part within religious instruction. Israel’s Independence Day became a Jewish holiday. Israeli flags adorned most synagogues. Youth programs integrated with Israeli songs and learning of modern Hebrew, with visitors from Israel instructing American youth national traditions. Trips to the nation grew and peaked through Birthright programs by 1999, offering complimentary travel to Israel was provided to young American Jews. The nation influenced almost the entirety of US Jewish life.

Shifting Landscape

Ironically, in these decades post-1967, American Jewry became adept in religious diversity. Open-mindedness and discussion among different Jewish movements expanded.

However regarding support for Israel – there existed pluralism found its boundary. You could be a conservative supporter or a leftwing Zionist, but support for Israel as a majority-Jewish country remained unquestioned, and questioning that perspective categorized you outside the consensus – outside the community, as Tablet magazine termed it in an essay in 2021.

However currently, during of the devastation in Gaza, famine, child casualties and frustration over the denial by numerous Jewish individuals who avoid admitting their complicity, that unity has disintegrated. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer