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It has been that mass murder of October 7, 2023, an event that profoundly impacted global Jewish populations like no other occurrence following the founding of the Jewish state.

Within Jewish communities the event proved profoundly disturbing. For the Israeli government, the situation represented a profound disgrace. The entire Zionist movement was founded on the belief that the Jewish state would ensure against things like this from ever happening again.

A response was inevitable. However, the particular response undertaken by Israel – the obliteration of the Gaza Strip, the casualties of many thousands of civilians – was a choice. This selected path created complexity in how many American Jews understood the October 7th events that triggered it, and it now complicates their observance of the day. In what way can people mourn and commemorate a tragedy affecting their nation in the midst of a catastrophe being inflicted upon a different population attributed to their identity?

The Challenge of Grieving

The challenge in grieving lies in the reality that no agreement exists as to what any of this means. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, the last two years have witnessed the disintegration of a decades-long unity on Zionism itself.

The early development of a Zionist consensus across American Jewish populations can be traced to an early twentieth-century publication by the lawyer subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis called “The Jewish Problem; How to Solve it”. But the consensus became firmly established after the 1967 conflict in 1967. Earlier, Jewish Americans maintained a vulnerable but enduring cohabitation among different factions holding diverse perspectives concerning the requirement for Israel – Zionists, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Previous Developments

That coexistence persisted during the 1950s and 60s, through surviving aspects of socialist Jewish movements, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, among the opposing religious group and comparable entities. For Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, pro-Israel ideology was more spiritual rather than political, and he forbade singing Hatikvah, the national song, at religious school events in those years. Additionally, Zionist ideology the main element of Modern Orthodoxy prior to the six-day war. Alternative Jewish perspectives existed alongside.

However following Israel defeated adjacent nations in the six-day war that year, occupying territories such as Palestinian territories, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish perspective on the country evolved considerably. The triumphant outcome, along with enduring anxieties regarding repeated persecution, resulted in a growing belief about the nation's vital role within Jewish identity, and a source of pride for its strength. Rhetoric regarding the extraordinary aspect of the victory and the reclaiming of territory provided the Zionist project a theological, almost redemptive, meaning. In those heady years, a significant portion of previous uncertainty regarding Zionism dissipated. In that decade, Writer the commentator stated: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The Zionist consensus left out the ultra-Orthodox – who generally maintained a nation should only be established via conventional understanding of the Messiah – yet included Reform, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and most secular Jews. The predominant version of this agreement, what became known as liberal Zionism, was established on the idea in Israel as a democratic and democratic – though Jewish-centered – nation. Numerous US Jews viewed the administration of Arab, Syria's and Egypt's territories following the war as temporary, thinking that a solution was imminent that would ensure a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and regional acceptance of the state.

Two generations of US Jews were raised with support for Israel a fundamental aspect of their Jewish identity. Israel became a central part within religious instruction. Israel’s Independence Day evolved into a religious observance. Israeli flags were displayed in most synagogues. Seasonal activities were permeated with Israeli songs and education of modern Hebrew, with Israelis visiting and teaching American teenagers Israeli customs. Travel to Israel increased and achieved record numbers with Birthright Israel during that year, when a free trip to the nation was offered to young American Jews. Israel permeated almost the entirety of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Ironically, in these decades following the war, US Jewish communities developed expertise regarding denominational coexistence. Tolerance and discussion among different Jewish movements increased.

Except when it came to support for Israel – that represented pluralism ended. You could be a rightwing Zionist or a liberal advocate, but support for Israel as a Jewish homeland was assumed, and challenging that narrative placed you outside mainstream views – outside the community, as Tablet magazine described it in an essay in 2021.

But now, under the weight of the devastation within Gaza, food shortages, young victims and anger over the denial by numerous Jewish individuals who refuse to recognize their involvement, that consensus has collapsed. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer