The Dissolution of a Zionist Agreement Within American Jews: What's Taking Shape Now.

Marking two years after the deadly assault of October 7, 2023, which shook Jewish communities worldwide more than any event following the establishment of the Jewish state.

Among Jewish people it was profoundly disturbing. For Israel as a nation, it was deeply humiliating. The entire Zionist project had been established on the presumption which held that Israel could stop things like this occurring in the future.

Some form of retaliation appeared unavoidable. But the response that Israel implemented – the obliteration of the Gaza Strip, the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands ordinary people – was a choice. This particular approach created complexity in how many Jewish Americans understood the initial assault that precipitated the response, and currently challenges their observance of the anniversary. In what way can people grieve and remember an atrocity affecting their nation during a catastrophe done to other individuals in your name?

The Complexity of Mourning

The challenge of mourning lies in the reality that little unity prevails regarding what any of this means. Indeed, within US Jewish circles, the last two years have seen the breakdown of a decades-long consensus regarding Zionism.

The early development of pro-Israel unity among American Jewry dates back to a 1915 essay written by a legal scholar and then future high court jurist Justice Brandeis named “The Jewish Question; Addressing the Challenge”. But the consensus became firmly established subsequent to the six-day war in 1967. Earlier, US Jewish communities maintained a fragile but stable cohabitation among different factions that had diverse perspectives concerning the requirement for a Jewish nation – Zionists, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Background Information

This parallel existence endured during the 1950s and 60s, in remnants of leftist Jewish organizations, in the non-Zionist American Jewish Committee, in the anti-Zionist religious group and similar institutions. For Louis Finkelstein, the head at JTS, pro-Israel ideology was more spiritual instead of governmental, and he did not permit performance of the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, at JTS ordinations in the early 1960s. Additionally, Zionism and pro-Israelism the centerpiece for contemporary Orthodox communities prior to the six-day war. Jewish identitarian alternatives existed alongside.

However following Israel defeated its neighbors in the six-day war in 1967, taking control of areas comprising the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish connection with Israel evolved considerably. The military success, along with longstanding fears about another genocide, led to a growing belief about the nation's essential significance to the Jewish people, and created pride regarding its endurance. Language concerning the “miraculous” quality of the outcome and the freeing of areas provided the Zionist project a religious, potentially salvific, importance. In those heady years, a significant portion of the remaining ambivalence toward Israel vanished. During the seventies, Writer Podhoretz stated: “Zionism unites us all.”

The Unity and Restrictions

The unified position excluded strictly Orthodox communities – who largely believed a Jewish state should only be ushered in through traditional interpretation of redemption – but united Reform Judaism, Conservative, contemporary Orthodox and the majority of secular Jews. The predominant version of the unified position, what became known as progressive Zionism, was established on the conviction about the nation as a democratic and liberal – though Jewish-centered – nation. Numerous US Jews viewed the occupation of Arab, Syria's and Egyptian lands after 1967 as not permanent, thinking that a solution would soon emerge that would ensure Jewish demographic dominance in Israel proper and regional acceptance of the nation.

Several cohorts of American Jews were thus brought up with Zionism a fundamental aspect of their identity as Jews. The state transformed into a key component in Jewish learning. Yom Ha'atzmaut evolved into a religious observance. Blue and white banners were displayed in most synagogues. Seasonal activities integrated with national melodies and the study of modern Hebrew, with Israelis visiting instructing American teenagers national traditions. Trips to the nation expanded and achieved record numbers via educational trips in 1999, providing no-cost visits to the country became available to Jewish young adults. The state affected virtually all areas of Jewish American identity.

Evolving Situation

Interestingly, throughout these years post-1967, Jewish Americans developed expertise in religious diversity. Tolerance and discussion across various Jewish groups increased.

Except when it came to support for Israel – that’s where pluralism found its boundary. You could be a rightwing Zionist or a liberal advocate, yet backing Israel as a majority-Jewish country remained unquestioned, and challenging that position categorized you outside mainstream views – outside the community, as Tablet magazine termed it in writing that year.

But now, amid of the destruction within Gaza, starvation, child casualties and frustration regarding the refusal within Jewish communities who avoid admitting their involvement, that unity has disintegrated. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer