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Marking two years after that mass murder of October 7, 2023, which shook world Jewry like no other occurrence following the founding of the state of Israel.

Within Jewish communities it was deeply traumatic. For the state of Israel, it was a significant embarrassment. The entire Zionist project had been established on the belief which held that Israel would prevent things like this occurring in the future.

Military action appeared unavoidable. Yet the chosen course that Israel implemented – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the killing and maiming of many thousands of civilians – represented a decision. This particular approach created complexity in the perspective of many US Jewish community members understood the attack that set it in motion, and currently challenges the community's observance of the anniversary. How does one grieve and remember a horrific event against your people while simultaneously devastation being inflicted upon another people connected to their community?

The Challenge of Grieving

The challenge of mourning exists because of the circumstance where no agreement exists about what any of this means. In fact, among Jewish Americans, this two-year period have experienced the collapse of a decades-long agreement regarding Zionism.

The beginnings of Zionist agreement within US Jewish communities can be traced to a 1915 essay by the lawyer and then future Supreme Court judge Justice Brandeis called “The Jewish Question; How to Solve it”. But the consensus became firmly established following the 1967 conflict in 1967. Previously, American Jewry housed a vulnerable but enduring cohabitation across various segments which maintained a range of views concerning the necessity for a Jewish nation – pro-Israel advocates, neutral parties and opponents.

Previous Developments

Such cohabitation endured during the post-war decades, within remaining elements of leftist Jewish organizations, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, among the opposing Jewish organization and similar institutions. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the chancellor of the theological institution, pro-Israel ideology was primarily theological rather than political, and he did not permit performance of Hatikvah, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies during that period. Furthermore, Zionism and pro-Israelism the centerpiece within modern Orthodox Judaism before the six-day war. Jewish identitarian alternatives coexisted.

But after Israel defeated adjacent nations during the 1967 conflict during that period, occupying territories such as the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish perspective on Israel evolved considerably. The military success, combined with longstanding fears regarding repeated persecution, resulted in a developing perspective in the country’s essential significance within Jewish identity, and a source of pride regarding its endurance. Discourse concerning the extraordinary aspect of the outcome and the reclaiming of areas provided the Zionist project a spiritual, almost redemptive, significance. In those heady years, considerable existing hesitation toward Israel dissipated. In that decade, Commentary magazine editor the commentator stated: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Agreement and Its Boundaries

The pro-Israel agreement excluded strictly Orthodox communities – who generally maintained a nation should only be established through traditional interpretation of the Messiah – yet included Reform, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and most secular Jews. The most popular form of the consensus, what became known as left-leaning Zionism, was founded on a belief regarding Israel as a democratic and free – though Jewish-centered – nation. Countless Jewish Americans considered the occupation of Palestinian, Syrian and Egyptian lands following the war as provisional, thinking that an agreement was forthcoming that would guarantee a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and Middle Eastern approval of the state.

Multiple generations of Jewish Americans were raised with support for Israel a core part of their identity as Jews. The state transformed into a key component of Jewish education. Yom Ha'atzmaut became a Jewish holiday. Blue and white banners were displayed in many temples. Summer camps were permeated with Israeli songs and the study of contemporary Hebrew, with Israeli guests and teaching American teenagers national traditions. Travel to Israel increased and reached new heights with Birthright Israel in 1999, providing no-cost visits to the country was provided to US Jewish youth. Israel permeated nearly every aspect of Jewish American identity.

Evolving Situation

Interestingly, in these decades following the war, US Jewish communities grew skilled regarding denominational coexistence. Acceptance and dialogue between Jewish denominations expanded.

However regarding the Israeli situation – there existed diversity ended. You could be a right-leaning advocate or a progressive supporter, yet backing Israel as a majority-Jewish country was a given, and criticizing that position positioned you outside mainstream views – a non-conformist, as Tablet magazine labeled it in an essay recently.

Yet presently, under the weight of the ruin in Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and outrage over the denial within Jewish communities who decline to acknowledge their responsibility, that agreement has collapsed. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer