🔗 Share this article

It has been the deadly assault of the events of October 7th, an event that shook global Jewish populations unlike anything else following the establishment of the state of Israel.

Among Jewish people it was shocking. For Israel as a nation, the situation represented deeply humiliating. The entire Zionist endeavor rested on the presumption which held that the nation would prevent things like this from ever happening again.

Some form of retaliation appeared unavoidable. But the response that Israel implemented – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the deaths and injuries of many thousands non-combatants – constituted a specific policy. This particular approach created complexity in the perspective of many Jewish Americans processed the October 7th events that precipitated the response, and currently challenges the community's commemoration of the anniversary. How does one grieve and remember a tragedy affecting their nation in the midst of devastation done to a different population connected to their community?

The Complexity of Grieving

The complexity in grieving exists because of the fact that there is no consensus about what any of this means. Actually, within US Jewish circles, the recent twenty-four months have seen the breakdown of a fifty-year agreement about the Zionist movement.

The beginnings of a Zionist consensus across American Jewish populations extends as far back as writings from 1915 authored by an attorney subsequently appointed high court jurist Louis Brandeis called “The Jewish Question; Addressing the Challenge”. But the consensus became firmly established subsequent to the six-day war that year. Earlier, US Jewish communities contained a fragile but stable parallel existence among different factions which maintained diverse perspectives regarding the need of a Jewish state – pro-Israel advocates, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Background Information

This parallel existence endured throughout the post-war decades, in remnants of leftist Jewish organizations, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, in the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism and comparable entities. For Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor at JTS, Zionism was primarily theological rather than political, and he prohibited the singing of the Israeli national anthem, the Israeli national anthem, at religious school events during that period. Additionally, Zionism and pro-Israelism the main element of Modern Orthodoxy until after the 1967 conflict. Alternative Jewish perspectives remained present.

But after Israel routed adjacent nations during the 1967 conflict during that period, seizing land such as Palestinian territories, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, US Jewish connection with the nation underwent significant transformation. Israel’s victory, combined with longstanding fears of a “second Holocaust”, led to a growing belief in the country’s essential significance to the Jewish people, and a source of pride for its strength. Language concerning the “miraculous” aspect of the outcome and the reclaiming of territory provided the Zionist project a theological, even messianic, importance. In those heady years, considerable previous uncertainty toward Israel dissipated. In that decade, Writer the commentator famously proclaimed: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Its Boundaries

The pro-Israel agreement left out Haredi Jews – who generally maintained Israel should only emerge through traditional interpretation of redemption – but united Reform, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and most non-affiliated Jews. The most popular form of this agreement, later termed left-leaning Zionism, was founded on a belief about the nation as a progressive and democratic – though Jewish-centered – country. Countless Jewish Americans viewed the occupation of Palestinian, Syria's and Egypt's territories following the war as provisional, thinking that a solution would soon emerge that would guarantee Jewish demographic dominance 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. The nation became a central part within religious instruction. Yom Ha'atzmaut became a Jewish holiday. Israeli flags adorned most synagogues. Seasonal activities were permeated with national melodies and learning of contemporary Hebrew, with Israelis visiting instructing US young people Israeli customs. Visits to Israel grew and reached new heights with Birthright Israel by 1999, providing no-cost visits to the country became available to Jewish young adults. The nation influenced virtually all areas of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Interestingly, throughout these years after 1967, US Jewish communities grew skilled at religious pluralism. Open-mindedness and discussion across various Jewish groups expanded.

Yet concerning support for Israel – there existed diversity reached its limit. Individuals might align with a right-leaning advocate or a liberal advocate, yet backing Israel as a Jewish state was a given, and criticizing that position placed you beyond accepted boundaries – outside the community, as Tablet magazine described it in writing recently.

But now, under the weight of the destruction within Gaza, famine, young victims and outrage over the denial within Jewish communities who decline to acknowledge their involvement, that unity has collapsed. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer