It has been the horrific attack of 7 October 2023, which profoundly impacted Jewish communities worldwide unlike anything else since the establishment of the state of Israel.
Within Jewish communities the event proved profoundly disturbing. For the state of Israel, it was deeply humiliating. The whole Zionist endeavor rested on the presumption that Israel would prevent similar tragedies occurring in the future.
Some form of retaliation seemed necessary. However, the particular response that Israel implemented – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the deaths and injuries of numerous of civilians – represented a decision. This selected path made more difficult the perspective of many American Jews grappled with the attack that precipitated the response, and it now complicates their remembrance of the day. In what way can people honor and reflect on a tragedy affecting their nation in the midst of an atrocity experienced by a different population connected to their community?
The complexity surrounding remembrance exists because of the reality that little unity prevails regarding what any of this means. Actually, among Jewish Americans, the recent twenty-four months have experienced the disintegration of a decades-long consensus regarding Zionism.
The early development of a Zionist consensus within US Jewish communities dates back to a 1915 essay written by a legal scholar who would later become Supreme Court judge Louis D. Brandeis named “The Jewish Question; Addressing the Challenge”. Yet the unity truly solidified following the Six-Day War during 1967. Previously, American Jewry housed a fragile but stable cohabitation among different factions that had diverse perspectives concerning the need for a Jewish nation – pro-Israel advocates, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.
That coexistence continued through the mid-twentieth century, through surviving aspects of leftist Jewish organizations, through the non-aligned Jewish communal organization, within the critical Jewish organization and similar institutions. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the leader of the theological institution, Zionism was primarily theological than political, and he prohibited the singing of Israel's anthem, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies during that period. Additionally, support for Israel the centerpiece of Modern Orthodoxy until after the 1967 conflict. Jewish identitarian alternatives coexisted.
However following Israel defeated neighboring countries during the 1967 conflict that year, seizing land comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan and East Jerusalem, US Jewish perspective on Israel underwent significant transformation. The military success, along with longstanding fears regarding repeated persecution, resulted in an increasing conviction in the country’s vital role for Jewish communities, and created pride in its resilience. Rhetoric regarding the remarkable nature of the victory and the reclaiming of land assigned the movement a spiritual, even messianic, importance. In those heady years, much of previous uncertainty toward Israel vanished. During the seventies, Publication editor Norman Podhoretz famously proclaimed: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”
The unified position excluded the ultra-Orthodox – who generally maintained a Jewish state should only emerge via conventional understanding of redemption – yet included Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and the majority of unaffiliated individuals. The common interpretation of the unified position, identified as progressive Zionism, was founded on the conviction about the nation as a liberal and liberal – albeit ethnocentric – nation. Numerous US Jews viewed the control of Palestinian, Syria's and Egypt's territories after 1967 as not permanent, thinking that a resolution would soon emerge that would guarantee a Jewish majority in pre-1967 Israel and regional acceptance of the nation.
Multiple generations of American Jews grew up with pro-Israel ideology an essential component of their religious identity. The nation became a central part within religious instruction. Israel’s Independence Day evolved into a religious observance. National symbols were displayed in most synagogues. Youth programs became infused with national melodies and learning of the language, with Israeli guests and teaching American youth national traditions. Trips to the nation increased and achieved record numbers with Birthright Israel in 1999, when a free trip to the country was provided to US Jewish youth. The nation influenced nearly every aspect of US Jewish life.
Interestingly, throughout these years following the war, American Jewry developed expertise at religious pluralism. Tolerance and dialogue between Jewish denominations increased.
However regarding Zionism and Israel – that’s where diversity ended. One could identify as a right-leaning advocate or a progressive supporter, yet backing Israel as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and questioning that perspective positioned you outside mainstream views – outside the community, as a Jewish periodical labeled it in writing that year.
However currently, amid of the devastation of Gaza, famine, dead and orphaned children and outrage regarding the refusal by numerous Jewish individuals who decline to acknowledge their complicity, that unity has broken down. The centrist pro-Israel view {has lost|no longer
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