🔗 Share this article

Two years have passed since that deadly assault of 7 October 2023, which profoundly impacted Jewish communities worldwide like no other occurrence since the establishment of the state of Israel.

Within Jewish communities it was deeply traumatic. For the state of Israel, the situation represented a significant embarrassment. The entire Zionist movement rested on the assumption which held that Israel could stop such atrocities occurring in the future.

A response was inevitable. However, the particular response that Israel implemented – the obliteration of Gaza, the casualties of many thousands of civilians – constituted a specific policy. This selected path created complexity in the way numerous Jewish Americans grappled with the October 7th events that set it in motion, and presently makes difficult their commemoration of the anniversary. How can someone honor and reflect on a tragedy targeting their community in the midst of an atrocity being inflicted upon other individuals connected to their community?

The Complexity of Remembrance

The complexity surrounding remembrance lies in the circumstance where there is no consensus about the significance of these events. In fact, within US Jewish circles, this two-year period have experienced the disintegration of a half-century-old agreement regarding Zionism.

The early development of pro-Israel unity across American Jewish populations extends as far back as a 1915 essay written by a legal scholar who would later become Supreme Court judge Justice Brandeis titled “The Jewish Question; Addressing the Challenge”. Yet the unity really takes hold subsequent to the 1967 conflict during 1967. Earlier, Jewish Americans maintained a delicate yet functioning cohabitation across various segments which maintained a range of views concerning the necessity of a Jewish state – Zionists, neutral parties and opponents.

Previous Developments

That coexistence endured through the mid-twentieth century, in remnants of socialist Jewish movements, through the non-aligned American Jewish Committee, among the opposing Jewish organization and similar institutions. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the leader of the theological institution, Zionism had greater religious significance instead of governmental, and he forbade the singing of Hatikvah, the national song, at religious school events during that period. Nor were Zionism and pro-Israelism the centerpiece within modern Orthodox Judaism until after that war. Alternative Jewish perspectives existed alongside.

But after Israel overcame neighboring countries in the six-day war that year, taking control of areas comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, US Jewish perspective on the country evolved considerably. The triumphant outcome, coupled with longstanding fears of a “second Holocaust”, led to a growing belief about the nation's essential significance to the Jewish people, and a source of pride in its resilience. Discourse about the “miraculous” aspect of the outcome and the freeing of land assigned the movement a theological, potentially salvific, importance. During that enthusiastic period, a significant portion of previous uncertainty regarding Zionism disappeared. During the seventies, Commentary magazine editor Norman Podhoretz declared: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”

The Unity and Its Boundaries

The unified position did not include the ultra-Orthodox – who largely believed Israel should only be ushered in via conventional understanding of the messiah – however joined Reform, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and most secular Jews. The predominant version of the consensus, what became known as liberal Zionism, was established on the idea regarding Israel as a progressive and democratic – though Jewish-centered – nation. Many American Jews saw the administration of Palestinian, Syrian and Egypt's territories following the war as temporary, thinking that a resolution was forthcoming that would maintain Jewish population majority in pre-1967 Israel and Middle Eastern approval of Israel.

Two generations of US Jews were raised with pro-Israel ideology an essential component of their identity as Jews. Israel became a key component of Jewish education. Israeli national day became a Jewish holiday. Israeli flags decorated most synagogues. Summer camps were permeated with Israeli songs and education of modern Hebrew, with Israeli guests and teaching American teenagers Israeli culture. Visits to Israel expanded and achieved record numbers via educational trips in 1999, offering complimentary travel to the country was provided to US Jewish youth. The nation influenced nearly every aspect of the American Jewish experience.

Changing Dynamics

Ironically, in these decades after 1967, Jewish Americans developed expertise regarding denominational coexistence. Acceptance and dialogue between Jewish denominations grew.

However regarding the Israeli situation – there existed pluralism ended. One could identify as a rightwing Zionist or a leftwing Zionist, yet backing Israel as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and questioning that narrative categorized you beyond accepted boundaries – outside the community, as Tablet magazine labeled it in writing in 2021.

However currently, under the weight of the destruction within Gaza, starvation, young victims and anger regarding the refusal by numerous Jewish individuals who refuse to recognize their complicity, that agreement has disintegrated. The centrist pro-Israel view {has lost|no longer