A Dissolution of the Pro-Israel Consensus Within American Jewish Community: What's Taking Shape Today.

It has been that horrific attack of the events of October 7th, an event that profoundly impacted global Jewish populations like no other occurrence following the creation of the state of Israel.

Among Jewish people the event proved deeply traumatic. For Israel as a nation, it was a significant embarrassment. The whole Zionist movement was founded on the presumption which held that Israel could stop such atrocities occurring in the future.

Military action seemed necessary. Yet the chosen course that Israel implemented – the comprehensive devastation of the Gaza Strip, the casualties of many thousands non-combatants – was a choice. And this choice made more difficult the perspective of many US Jewish community members understood the initial assault that triggered it, and it now complicates their observance of that date. In what way can people mourn and commemorate an atrocity targeting their community in the midst of devastation experienced by another people in your name?

The Challenge of Remembrance

The challenge of mourning lies in the reality that no agreement exists as to the implications of these developments. Actually, for the American Jewish community, this two-year period have witnessed the breakdown of a fifty-year agreement about the Zionist movement.

The origins of pro-Israel unity among American Jewry extends as far back as an early twentieth-century publication authored by an attorney who would later become Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis named “Jewish Issues; Addressing the Challenge”. Yet the unity truly solidified following the six-day war in 1967. Before then, US Jewish communities contained a fragile but stable parallel existence between groups holding different opinions about the need for a Jewish nation – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and opponents.

Background Information

That coexistence endured through the 1950s and 60s, in remnants of Jewish socialism, within the neutral Jewish communal organization, among the opposing Jewish organization and other organizations. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Zionism had greater religious significance instead of governmental, and he prohibited performance of Israel's anthem, Hatikvah, at religious school events during that period. Additionally, Zionist ideology the central focus for contemporary Orthodox communities until after the 1967 conflict. Different Jewish identity models remained present.

But after Israel overcame its neighbors during the 1967 conflict during that period, occupying territories such as the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan and East Jerusalem, the American Jewish connection with the nation evolved considerably. The military success, along with longstanding fears regarding repeated persecution, produced a developing perspective about the nation's critical importance within Jewish identity, and a source of pride regarding its endurance. Discourse regarding the extraordinary aspect of the success and the reclaiming of land assigned the movement a spiritual, almost redemptive, significance. During that enthusiastic period, considerable existing hesitation toward Israel vanished. In the early 1970s, Writer Podhoretz declared: “We are all Zionists now.”

The Consensus and Its Boundaries

The Zionist consensus left out strictly Orthodox communities – who typically thought a nation should only emerge via conventional understanding of the messiah – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and most non-affiliated Jews. The common interpretation of the unified position, what became known as progressive Zionism, was based on the conviction about the nation as a progressive and free – albeit ethnocentric – nation. Numerous US Jews saw the administration of Arab, Syrian and Egypt's territories post-1967 as not permanent, believing that a solution was imminent that would guarantee a Jewish majority within Israel's original borders and neighbor recognition of the nation.

Multiple generations of US Jews were raised with Zionism a core part of their identity as Jews. The state transformed into a key component of Jewish education. Israeli national day turned into a celebration. National symbols adorned religious institutions. Seasonal activities became infused with Israeli songs and the study of the language, with Israeli guests educating American teenagers Israeli culture. Visits to Israel expanded and reached new heights with Birthright Israel by 1999, providing no-cost visits to Israel was provided to Jewish young adults. Israel permeated nearly every aspect of Jewish American identity.

Changing Dynamics

Paradoxically, in these decades following the war, Jewish Americans grew skilled regarding denominational coexistence. Acceptance and dialogue between Jewish denominations grew.

Yet concerning support for Israel – that represented diversity reached its limit. One could identify as a rightwing Zionist or a progressive supporter, however endorsement of the nation as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and criticizing that narrative positioned you beyond accepted boundaries – outside the community, as a Jewish periodical labeled it in writing that year.

But now, during of the devastation of Gaza, famine, dead and orphaned children and frustration over the denial by numerous Jewish individuals who decline to acknowledge their complicity, that agreement has broken down. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer