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Marking two years after the deadly assault of 7 October 2023, an event that profoundly impacted Jewish communities worldwide more than any event following the creation of the Jewish state.

For Jews the event proved shocking. For the Israeli government, the situation represented deeply humiliating. The whole Zionist movement was founded on the belief that Israel would ensure against similar tragedies repeating.

Military action was inevitable. However, the particular response undertaken by Israel – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the deaths and injuries of numerous of civilians – was a choice. And this choice created complexity in the way numerous US Jewish community members grappled with the October 7th events that triggered it, and it now complicates their remembrance of the anniversary. In what way can people grieve and remember a tragedy affecting their nation while simultaneously an atrocity experienced by other individuals in your name?

The Complexity of Remembrance

The difficulty of mourning stems from the fact that no agreement exists about the significance of these events. Actually, within US Jewish circles, this two-year period have seen the collapse of a fifty-year agreement on Zionism itself.

The early development of Zionist agreement across American Jewish populations can be traced to writings from 1915 authored by an attorney who would later become high court jurist Louis Brandeis called “The Jewish Problem; Finding Solutions”. But the consensus really takes hold following the 1967 conflict that year. Earlier, Jewish Americans maintained a fragile but stable coexistence among different factions which maintained a range of views regarding the need for Israel – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and opponents.

Previous Developments

This parallel existence endured during the post-war decades, through surviving aspects of socialist Jewish movements, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, among the opposing religious group and similar institutions. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the head at JTS, Zionism was primarily theological rather than political, and he forbade singing Israel's anthem, the national song, at JTS ordinations in the early 1960s. Nor were Zionism and pro-Israelism the main element of Modern Orthodoxy until after the 1967 conflict. Jewish identitarian alternatives remained present.

But after Israel overcame its neighbors in the six-day war during that period, seizing land comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, US Jewish relationship to the nation evolved considerably. The triumphant outcome, along with persistent concerns of a “second Holocaust”, led to a developing perspective in the country’s critical importance within Jewish identity, and created pride for its strength. Rhetoric regarding the remarkable nature of the success and the reclaiming of territory assigned the Zionist project a spiritual, almost redemptive, importance. In those heady years, much of previous uncertainty regarding Zionism disappeared. In the early 1970s, Commentary magazine editor Podhoretz famously proclaimed: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”

The Agreement and Restrictions

The Zionist consensus left out strictly Orthodox communities – who typically thought a nation should only be established via conventional understanding of redemption – but united Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and nearly all secular Jews. The predominant version of the unified position, identified as left-leaning Zionism, was established on the idea in Israel as a progressive and liberal – though Jewish-centered – country. Numerous US Jews saw the occupation of Palestinian, Syria's and Egypt's territories post-1967 as provisional, assuming that a solution was forthcoming that would maintain a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and neighbor recognition of Israel.

Two generations of Jewish Americans grew up with support for Israel an essential component of their Jewish identity. The state transformed into a key component of Jewish education. Israel’s Independence Day turned into a celebration. National symbols were displayed in most synagogues. Summer camps were permeated with Hebrew music and the study of the language, with visitors from Israel and teaching US young people Israeli customs. Visits to Israel grew and peaked with Birthright Israel by 1999, when a free trip to the country was provided to Jewish young adults. Israel permeated virtually all areas of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Interestingly, in these decades following the war, American Jewry grew skilled regarding denominational coexistence. Open-mindedness and discussion across various Jewish groups expanded.

However regarding Zionism and Israel – that represented diversity found its boundary. Individuals might align with a rightwing Zionist or a liberal advocate, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish state remained unquestioned, and challenging that position placed you beyond accepted boundaries – outside the community, as a Jewish periodical described it in a piece in 2021.

However currently, amid of the destruction in Gaza, food shortages, dead and orphaned children and frustration over the denial by numerous Jewish individuals who avoid admitting their complicity, that consensus has collapsed. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer