The Breakdown of the Pro-Israel Agreement Among American Jewish Community: What's Emerging Today.

Marking two years after that deadly assault of the events of October 7th, an event that deeply affected world Jewry unlike anything else following the creation of Israel as a nation.

For Jews it was deeply traumatic. For the Israeli government, it was a profound disgrace. The whole Zionist endeavor was founded on the belief which held that the Jewish state could stop similar tragedies occurring in the future.

A response appeared unavoidable. But the response Israel pursued – the widespread destruction of the Gaza Strip, the casualties of tens of thousands non-combatants – constituted a specific policy. And this choice made more difficult how many American Jews processed the initial assault that precipitated the response, and presently makes difficult the community's remembrance of the anniversary. How can someone honor and reflect on a horrific event affecting their nation during a catastrophe being inflicted upon other individuals attributed to their identity?

The Challenge of Grieving

The challenge of mourning exists because of the circumstance where there is no consensus as to the implications of these developments. Actually, among Jewish Americans, the recent twenty-four months have seen the breakdown of a half-century-old agreement regarding Zionism.

The origins of Zionist agreement within US Jewish communities dates back to a 1915 essay written by a legal scholar who would later become supreme court justice Louis D. Brandeis named “Jewish Issues; Addressing the Challenge”. However, the agreement became firmly established subsequent to the six-day war during 1967. Previously, Jewish Americans contained a delicate yet functioning cohabitation between groups that had a range of views concerning the necessity for Israel – Zionists, neutral parties and anti-Zionists.

Background Information

Such cohabitation persisted through the mid-twentieth century, through surviving aspects of Jewish socialism, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, within the critical Jewish organization and comparable entities. In the view of Louis Finkelstein, the chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Zionist movement had greater religious significance rather than political, and he prohibited performance of Hatikvah, the national song, at religious school events during that period. Furthermore, Zionist ideology the main element within modern Orthodox Judaism before the six-day war. Jewish identitarian alternatives remained present.

Yet after Israel defeated adjacent nations in the six-day war during that period, occupying territories comprising Palestinian territories, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, US Jewish perspective on the country changed dramatically. Israel’s victory, combined with persistent concerns of a “second Holocaust”, produced a developing perspective in the country’s vital role within Jewish identity, and a source of pride regarding its endurance. Rhetoric regarding the extraordinary nature of the victory and the “liberation” of land gave the movement a spiritual, almost redemptive, meaning. During that enthusiastic period, much of previous uncertainty regarding Zionism dissipated. In that decade, Commentary magazine editor the commentator declared: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Consensus and Its Boundaries

The Zionist consensus left out the ultra-Orthodox – who generally maintained a nation should only be established by a traditional rendering of the messiah – yet included Reform Judaism, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and most unaffiliated individuals. The common interpretation of the unified position, identified as liberal Zionism, was established on the idea regarding Israel as a democratic and democratic – albeit ethnocentric – state. Many American Jews saw the administration of Arab, Syrian and Egypt's territories post-1967 as temporary, thinking that a solution would soon emerge that would guarantee a Jewish majority in Israel proper and Middle Eastern approval of the nation.

Two generations of American Jews grew up with pro-Israel ideology an essential component of their religious identity. The nation became an important element in Jewish learning. Israeli national day evolved into a religious observance. National symbols decorated most synagogues. Seasonal activities were permeated with Hebrew music and the study of contemporary Hebrew, with visitors from Israel educating American youth Israeli customs. Trips to the nation grew and achieved record numbers via educational trips in 1999, when a free trip to the country was provided to Jewish young adults. Israel permeated nearly every aspect of the American Jewish experience.

Changing Dynamics

Ironically, in these decades after 1967, US Jewish communities developed expertise at religious pluralism. Tolerance and communication between Jewish denominations expanded.

Except when it came to Zionism and Israel – that represented diversity reached its limit. One could identify as a right-leaning advocate or a progressive supporter, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish state was assumed, and criticizing that perspective placed you outside mainstream views – outside the community, as Tablet magazine termed it in an essay in 2021.

But now, amid of the destruction within Gaza, food shortages, child casualties and frustration about the rejection within Jewish communities who refuse to recognize their responsibility, that unity has collapsed. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer