Two years have passed since the horrific attack of 7 October 2023, an event that profoundly impacted global Jewish populations like no other occurrence following the founding of Israel as a nation.
For Jews the event proved profoundly disturbing. For the state of Israel, the situation represented a profound disgrace. The whole Zionist project rested on the presumption which held that Israel could stop such atrocities repeating.
A response was inevitable. Yet the chosen course that Israel implemented – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands non-combatants – constituted a specific policy. This selected path created complexity in the way numerous American Jews understood the initial assault that set it in motion, and presently makes difficult the community's remembrance of the anniversary. How can someone honor and reflect on an atrocity against your people during a catastrophe done to another people attributed to their identity?
The difficulty surrounding remembrance exists because of the circumstance where there is no consensus regarding what any of this means. Indeed, among Jewish Americans, the recent twenty-four months have experienced the disintegration of a decades-long unity on Zionism itself.
The origins of a Zionist consensus across American Jewish populations can be traced to writings from 1915 written by a legal scholar subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Justice Brandeis titled “The Jewish Problem; How to Solve it”. However, the agreement truly solidified after the 1967 conflict during 1967. Earlier, Jewish Americans contained a delicate yet functioning cohabitation across various segments which maintained different opinions regarding the need of a Jewish state – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.
This parallel existence endured during the post-war decades, in remnants of leftist Jewish organizations, through the non-aligned American Jewish Committee, among the opposing Jewish organization and comparable entities. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the chancellor of the theological institution, Zionism had greater religious significance rather than political, and he forbade singing the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, during seminary ceremonies during that period. Additionally, support for Israel the central focus for contemporary Orthodox communities before the 1967 conflict. Different Jewish identity models coexisted.
But after Israel overcame its neighbors during the 1967 conflict in 1967, seizing land comprising Palestinian territories, Gaza, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, the American Jewish perspective on the nation changed dramatically. The military success, along with longstanding fears of a “second Holocaust”, produced an increasing conviction about the nation's vital role within Jewish identity, and generated admiration for its strength. Language about the “miraculous” quality of the victory and the “liberation” of areas provided the Zionist project a religious, potentially salvific, meaning. In those heady years, a significant portion of existing hesitation toward Israel vanished. In that decade, Commentary magazine editor Norman Podhoretz stated: “We are all Zionists now.”
The pro-Israel agreement left out the ultra-Orthodox – who generally maintained Israel should only be established by a traditional rendering of the Messiah – but united Reform Judaism, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and nearly all secular Jews. The most popular form of the consensus, what became known as liberal Zionism, was established on the idea regarding Israel as a democratic and democratic – though Jewish-centered – state. Countless Jewish Americans viewed the control of Palestinian, Syria's and Egypt's territories following the war as provisional, believing that a resolution was imminent that would ensure Jewish population majority in pre-1967 Israel and Middle Eastern approval of Israel.
Multiple generations of American Jews were raised with support for Israel a fundamental aspect of their identity as Jews. The state transformed into a central part within religious instruction. Yom Ha'atzmaut evolved into a religious observance. Israeli flags adorned many temples. Summer camps became infused with national melodies and education of contemporary Hebrew, with visitors from Israel and teaching US young people Israeli culture. Visits to Israel increased and achieved record numbers with Birthright Israel by 1999, when a free trip to the nation became available to young American Jews. The state affected almost the entirety of the American Jewish experience.
Interestingly, in these decades after 1967, US Jewish communities grew skilled regarding denominational coexistence. Open-mindedness and communication between Jewish denominations grew.
However regarding the Israeli situation – that’s where tolerance reached its limit. Individuals might align with a rightwing Zionist or a liberal advocate, yet backing Israel as a Jewish state was assumed, and criticizing that perspective positioned you beyond accepted boundaries – a non-conformist, as Tablet magazine labeled it in a piece recently.
Yet presently, under the weight of the destruction in Gaza, famine, child casualties and frustration over the denial within Jewish communities who avoid admitting their responsibility, that unity has collapsed. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer
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