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Two years have passed since the deadly assault of 7 October 2023, which profoundly impacted global Jewish populations unlike anything else since the founding of Israel as a nation.

Within Jewish communities it was shocking. For the Israeli government, the situation represented a significant embarrassment. The whole Zionist endeavor had been established on the assumption that Israel could stop such atrocities occurring in the future.

Military action was inevitable. Yet the chosen course Israel pursued – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the killing and maiming of many thousands ordinary people – represented a decision. And this choice made more difficult how many US Jewish community members grappled with the attack that set it in motion, and it now complicates their commemoration of that date. In what way can people mourn and commemorate a tragedy targeting their community in the midst of devastation experienced by another people attributed to their identity?

The Challenge of Mourning

The challenge in grieving lies in the reality that no agreement exists regarding what any of this means. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, this two-year period have witnessed the disintegration of a fifty-year consensus on Zionism itself.

The beginnings of a Zionist consensus within US Jewish communities can be traced to writings from 1915 by the lawyer subsequently appointed high court jurist Louis D. Brandeis titled “Jewish Issues; Addressing the Challenge”. Yet the unity truly solidified subsequent to the Six-Day War in 1967. Previously, American Jewry housed a vulnerable but enduring cohabitation among different factions holding a range of views about the need for a Jewish nation – Zionists, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Previous Developments

This parallel existence continued during the mid-twentieth century, in remnants of leftist Jewish organizations, within the neutral Jewish communal organization, in the anti-Zionist religious group and similar institutions. For Louis Finkelstein, the head of the theological institution, Zionism was more spiritual instead of governmental, and he prohibited singing Israel's anthem, Hatikvah, at JTS ordinations in the early 1960s. Additionally, Zionism and pro-Israelism the centerpiece within modern Orthodox Judaism until after the 1967 conflict. Jewish identitarian alternatives coexisted.

Yet after Israel routed adjacent nations in the six-day war in 1967, taking control of areas including the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish relationship to Israel changed dramatically. The military success, along with longstanding fears of a “second Holocaust”, led to a developing perspective about the nation's vital role for Jewish communities, and a source of pride for its strength. Language concerning the remarkable nature of the victory and the reclaiming of land assigned the Zionist project a spiritual, almost redemptive, significance. In that triumphant era, a significant portion of existing hesitation about Zionism disappeared. In that decade, Publication editor Norman Podhoretz declared: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Consensus and Its Boundaries

The unified position did not include strictly Orthodox communities – who typically thought a nation should only emerge via conventional understanding of the messiah – but united Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and nearly all unaffiliated individuals. The most popular form of the consensus, what became known as progressive Zionism, was founded on the conviction regarding Israel as a liberal and free – though Jewish-centered – nation. Countless Jewish Americans saw the administration of local, Syria's and Egyptian lands following the war as not permanent, believing that an agreement would soon emerge that would maintain Jewish population majority in pre-1967 Israel and regional acceptance of the nation.

Multiple generations of American Jews were thus brought up with support for Israel an essential component of their identity as Jews. The nation became an important element in Jewish learning. Yom Ha'atzmaut evolved into a religious observance. National symbols adorned religious institutions. Seasonal activities integrated with national melodies and the study of the language, with visitors from Israel educating US young people Israeli customs. Travel to Israel grew and achieved record numbers via educational trips by 1999, when a free trip to the country became available to young American Jews. The state affected virtually all areas of the American Jewish experience.

Evolving Situation

Interestingly, during this period following the war, American Jewry grew skilled regarding denominational coexistence. Tolerance and communication across various Jewish groups expanded.

However regarding Zionism and Israel – that represented diversity reached its limit. You could be a conservative supporter or a progressive supporter, but support for Israel as a majority-Jewish country was a given, and questioning that narrative categorized you outside mainstream views – outside the community, as a Jewish periodical labeled it in an essay recently.

However currently, during of the devastation within Gaza, starvation, dead and orphaned children and frustration regarding the refusal by numerous Jewish individuals who refuse to recognize their involvement, that unity has collapsed. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer