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Two years have passed since that deadly assault of 7 October 2023, which profoundly impacted Jewish communities worldwide unlike anything else since the founding of the state of Israel.

Within Jewish communities the event proved profoundly disturbing. For the Israeli government, it was deeply humiliating. The whole Zionist endeavor was founded on the belief which held that the Jewish state would prevent things like this occurring in the future.

Military action appeared unavoidable. Yet the chosen course Israel pursued – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the casualties of many thousands ordinary people – constituted a specific policy. This selected path made more difficult the perspective of many American Jews processed the October 7th events that precipitated the response, and it now complicates the community's commemoration of the anniversary. How does one grieve and remember a horrific event targeting their community while simultaneously devastation being inflicted upon another people connected to their community?

The Challenge of Remembrance

The complexity surrounding remembrance exists because of the reality that no agreement exists regarding what any of this means. Actually, among Jewish Americans, the last two years have experienced the disintegration of a fifty-year agreement regarding Zionism.

The early development of pro-Israel unity across American Jewish populations can be traced to a 1915 essay authored by an attorney and then future Supreme Court judge Louis D. Brandeis called “The Jewish Question; Addressing the Challenge”. Yet the unity truly solidified subsequent to the six-day war that year. Before then, American Jewry maintained a fragile but stable parallel existence among different factions that had a range of views regarding the necessity for a Jewish nation – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.

Previous Developments

This parallel existence continued during the 1950s and 60s, in remnants of leftist Jewish organizations, through the non-aligned US Jewish group, among the opposing religious group and similar institutions. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the head of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Zionism was primarily theological instead of governmental, and he forbade singing Hatikvah, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies during that period. Nor were Zionist ideology the main element of Modern Orthodoxy before the six-day war. Different Jewish identity models remained present.

But after Israel routed adjacent nations during the 1967 conflict that year, taking control of areas including Palestinian territories, Gaza, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish connection with the country evolved considerably. Israel’s victory, along with persistent concerns about another genocide, led to an increasing conviction regarding Israel's critical importance to the Jewish people, and a source of pride in its resilience. Discourse concerning the remarkable nature of the outcome and the reclaiming of territory provided the movement a theological, even messianic, significance. In that triumphant era, considerable previous uncertainty about Zionism vanished. In that decade, Writer Norman Podhoretz stated: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Unity and Its Limits

The unified position left out the ultra-Orthodox – who typically thought Israel should only emerge through traditional interpretation of redemption – yet included Reform, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and most unaffiliated individuals. The common interpretation of the consensus, identified as left-leaning Zionism, was founded on the idea about the nation as a progressive and democratic – albeit ethnocentric – country. Countless Jewish Americans considered the administration of local, Syrian and Egypt's territories after 1967 as not permanent, thinking that a solution would soon emerge that would ensure a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and regional acceptance of the nation.

Multiple generations of Jewish Americans grew up with Zionism a fundamental aspect of their Jewish identity. Israel became an important element within religious instruction. Israeli national day turned into a celebration. National symbols adorned most synagogues. Seasonal activities were permeated with Hebrew music and education of contemporary Hebrew, with Israelis visiting instructing US young people Israeli customs. Trips to the nation grew and peaked with Birthright Israel during that year, providing no-cost visits to Israel was offered to US Jewish youth. Israel permeated virtually all areas of Jewish American identity.

Changing Dynamics

Ironically, during this period post-1967, US Jewish communities grew skilled in religious diversity. Open-mindedness and communication across various Jewish groups expanded.

Yet concerning the Israeli situation – there existed diversity reached its limit. Individuals might align with a right-leaning advocate or a liberal advocate, but support for Israel as a Jewish homeland was a given, and criticizing that position positioned you outside mainstream views – an “Un-Jew”, as Tablet magazine described it in writing in 2021.

Yet presently, amid of the devastation of Gaza, famine, young victims and outrage regarding the refusal of many fellow Jews who decline to acknowledge their complicity, that unity has collapsed. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer