A Collapse of a Zionist Consensus Among American Jews: What Is Emerging Today.
It has been the mass murder of the events of October 7th, an event that deeply affected Jewish communities worldwide more than any event since the creation of Israel as a nation.
Within Jewish communities the event proved deeply traumatic. For Israel as a nation, it was a significant embarrassment. The whole Zionist movement had been established on the belief which held that Israel would prevent similar tragedies occurring in the future.
A response was inevitable. Yet the chosen course Israel pursued – the obliteration of Gaza, the killing and maiming of numerous of civilians – constituted a specific policy. This selected path made more difficult how many US Jewish community members understood the initial assault that set it in motion, and presently makes difficult their commemoration of the day. How does one honor and reflect on a tragedy against your people in the midst of a catastrophe done to a different population in your name?
The Complexity of Grieving
The complexity in grieving lies in the reality that there is no consensus regarding the significance of these events. Actually, for the American Jewish community, this two-year period have experienced the breakdown of a fifty-year consensus about the Zionist movement.
The beginnings of pro-Israel unity across American Jewish populations dates back to writings from 1915 written by a legal scholar subsequently appointed Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis titled “The Jewish Problem; Addressing the Challenge”. Yet the unity really takes hold subsequent to the Six-Day War that year. Before then, American Jewry maintained a delicate yet functioning cohabitation between groups holding different opinions about the requirement of a Jewish state – pro-Israel advocates, non-Zionists and anti-Zionists.
Historical Context
This parallel existence endured through the post-war decades, within remaining elements of leftist Jewish organizations, in the non-Zionist US Jewish group, within the critical Jewish organization and other organizations. Regarding Chancellor Finkelstein, the leader of the theological institution, pro-Israel ideology was more spiritual instead of governmental, and he forbade the singing of the Israeli national anthem, the Israeli national anthem, at JTS ordinations during that period. Nor were support for Israel the centerpiece of Modern Orthodoxy prior to that war. Different Jewish identity models remained present.
However following Israel defeated adjacent nations in the six-day war during that period, seizing land such as the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan and Jerusalem's eastern sector, the American Jewish perspective on the nation changed dramatically. Israel’s victory, along with longstanding fears of a “second Holocaust”, produced an increasing conviction about the nation's critical importance for Jewish communities, and created pride in its resilience. Rhetoric regarding the “miraculous” quality of the success and the freeing of territory gave Zionism a spiritual, potentially salvific, significance. In those heady years, a significant portion of previous uncertainty about Zionism dissipated. During the seventies, Writer Podhoretz declared: “We are all Zionists now.”
The Agreement and Restrictions
The unified position did not include Haredi Jews – who typically thought a Jewish state should only be ushered in through traditional interpretation of the messiah – yet included Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox and the majority of secular Jews. The common interpretation of the consensus, what became known as left-leaning Zionism, was established on a belief regarding Israel as a democratic and free – albeit ethnocentric – state. Countless Jewish Americans saw the control of local, Syria's and Egypt's territories post-1967 as temporary, believing that an agreement was forthcoming that would maintain a Jewish majority within Israel's original borders and regional acceptance of Israel.
Two generations of American Jews were thus brought up with support for Israel a fundamental aspect of their Jewish identity. Israel became a key component within religious instruction. Israeli national day evolved into a religious observance. National symbols decorated many temples. Youth programs became infused with Israeli songs and education of the language, with Israeli guests educating US young people Israeli customs. Travel to Israel grew and peaked with Birthright Israel by 1999, offering complimentary travel to Israel was offered to US Jewish youth. Israel permeated almost the entirety of Jewish American identity.
Evolving Situation
Interestingly, in these decades post-1967, Jewish Americans developed expertise at religious pluralism. Open-mindedness and discussion between Jewish denominations increased.
Except when it came to support for Israel – that’s where tolerance ended. Individuals might align with a conservative supporter or a leftwing Zionist, but support for Israel as a majority-Jewish country was assumed, and criticizing that narrative categorized you outside mainstream views – an “Un-Jew”, as one publication described it in writing in 2021.
But now, under the weight of the destruction within Gaza, starvation, young victims and anger regarding the refusal of many fellow Jews who refuse to recognize their responsibility, that consensus has broken down. The moderate Zionist position {has lost|no longer
