🔗 Share this article

It has been the horrific attack of the events of October 7th, an event that shook global Jewish populations unlike anything else since the founding of Israel as a nation.

For Jews it was shocking. For Israel as a nation, it was a profound disgrace. The entire Zionist project was founded on the assumption that the Jewish state would ensure against such atrocities occurring in the future.

Military action was inevitable. But the response Israel pursued – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the deaths and injuries of many thousands of civilians – constituted a specific policy. This particular approach made more difficult how many American Jews understood the initial assault that set it in motion, and presently makes difficult their remembrance of that date. How can someone grieve and remember a horrific event affecting their nation while simultaneously devastation experienced by another people in your name?

The Difficulty of Remembrance

The challenge in grieving stems from the fact that little unity prevails regarding what any of this means. In fact, within US Jewish circles, the last two years have seen the breakdown of a decades-long consensus regarding Zionism.

The origins of a Zionist consensus within US Jewish communities extends as far back as an early twentieth-century publication authored by an attorney subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Justice Brandeis titled “Jewish Issues; Finding Solutions”. Yet the unity became firmly established after the Six-Day War that year. Before then, American Jewry maintained a delicate yet functioning parallel existence across various segments which maintained different opinions concerning the need of a Jewish state – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and opponents.

Background Information

Such cohabitation persisted during the 1950s and 60s, in remnants of Jewish socialism, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, within the critical religious group and comparable entities. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary, pro-Israel ideology was more spiritual instead of governmental, and he prohibited performance of Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, at religious school events during that period. Furthermore, Zionism and pro-Israelism the main element of Modern Orthodoxy until after that war. Jewish identitarian alternatives existed alongside.

However following Israel overcame adjacent nations in the six-day war that year, taking control of areas comprising the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish perspective on the country evolved considerably. The military success, along with enduring anxieties regarding repeated persecution, produced a developing perspective regarding Israel's vital role to the Jewish people, and generated admiration in its resilience. Language about the extraordinary nature of the success and the reclaiming of land provided Zionism a spiritual, even messianic, meaning. In those heady years, considerable previous uncertainty about Zionism disappeared. In that decade, Commentary magazine editor Podhoretz declared: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Consensus and Its Boundaries

The unified position did not include Haredi Jews – who typically thought a nation should only emerge through traditional interpretation of the messiah – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and most non-affiliated Jews. The predominant version of the unified position, what became known as progressive Zionism, was based on the idea regarding Israel as a progressive and liberal – while majority-Jewish – nation. Numerous US Jews saw the control of local, Syria's and Egyptian lands post-1967 as provisional, assuming that an agreement would soon emerge that would guarantee a Jewish majority within Israel's original borders and neighbor recognition of the state.

Several cohorts of Jewish Americans were thus brought up with pro-Israel ideology a fundamental aspect of their identity as Jews. The nation became an important element in Jewish learning. Israel’s Independence Day evolved into a religious observance. Blue and white banners were displayed in many temples. Youth programs integrated with Israeli songs and learning of the language, with Israeli guests instructing American youth national traditions. Travel to Israel increased and achieved record numbers with Birthright Israel during that year, when a free trip to the country became available to Jewish young adults. The state affected virtually all areas of Jewish American identity.

Shifting Landscape

Interestingly, during this period post-1967, American Jewry developed expertise regarding denominational coexistence. Acceptance and discussion among different Jewish movements expanded.

However regarding support for Israel – that represented pluralism reached its limit. One could identify as a right-leaning advocate or a liberal advocate, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish state was a given, and criticizing that position placed you outside mainstream views – an “Un-Jew”, as a Jewish periodical labeled it in a piece recently.

But now, amid of the destruction within Gaza, food shortages, dead and orphaned children and frustration about the rejection of many fellow Jews who decline to acknowledge their involvement, that consensus has disintegrated. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer