A Collapse of the Zionist Consensus Among American Jews: What Is Emerging Now.
It has been that horrific attack of the events of October 7th, an event that deeply affected world Jewry more than any event since the founding of the Jewish state.
For Jews it was deeply traumatic. For Israel as a nation, it was a profound disgrace. The whole Zionist movement rested on the presumption that the nation would ensure against similar tragedies from ever happening again.
A response seemed necessary. Yet the chosen course undertaken by Israel – the comprehensive devastation of Gaza, the killing and maiming of numerous of civilians – was a choice. And this choice created complexity in how many American Jews grappled with the initial assault that precipitated the response, and currently challenges their observance of the day. In what way can people grieve and remember a tragedy targeting their community in the midst of devastation being inflicted upon a different population connected to their community?
The Complexity of Mourning
The complexity surrounding remembrance lies in the circumstance where there is no consensus about the implications of these developments. Actually, within US Jewish circles, this two-year period have witnessed the disintegration of a decades-long unity about the Zionist movement.
The early development of pro-Israel unity among American Jewry can be traced to a 1915 essay by the lawyer and then future supreme court justice Louis D. Brandeis called “Jewish Issues; How to Solve it”. However, the agreement truly solidified after the 1967 conflict during 1967. Before then, US Jewish communities maintained a vulnerable but enduring parallel existence among different factions holding a range of views regarding the requirement of a Jewish state – Zionists, non-Zionists and opponents.
Background Information
This parallel existence persisted during the mid-twentieth century, through surviving aspects of leftist Jewish organizations, through the non-aligned Jewish communal organization, in the anti-Zionist religious group and other organizations. For Louis Finkelstein, the head of the Jewish Theological Seminary, pro-Israel ideology had greater religious significance than political, and he did not permit performance of the Israeli national anthem, the Israeli national anthem, at religious school events in the early 1960s. Additionally, Zionism and pro-Israelism the main element of Modern Orthodoxy prior to the 1967 conflict. Alternative Jewish perspectives coexisted.
Yet after Israel routed its neighbors in that war in 1967, seizing land including Palestinian territories, Gaza, Golan Heights and Jerusalem's eastern sector, US Jewish relationship to the nation changed dramatically. The military success, coupled with longstanding fears of a “second Holocaust”, resulted in a developing perspective about the nation's critical importance for Jewish communities, and a source of pride regarding its endurance. Discourse concerning the “miraculous” aspect of the victory and the “liberation” of land gave the Zionist project a theological, almost redemptive, meaning. During that enthusiastic period, a significant portion of existing hesitation toward Israel dissipated. In the early 1970s, Commentary magazine editor Norman Podhoretz declared: “Everyone supports Zionism today.”
The Consensus and Its Boundaries
The Zionist consensus did not include the ultra-Orthodox – who largely believed Israel should only be established via conventional understanding of the messiah – however joined Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, contemporary Orthodox and nearly all secular Jews. The most popular form of the unified position, later termed left-leaning Zionism, was founded on the idea in Israel as a democratic and liberal – though Jewish-centered – nation. Countless Jewish Americans viewed the administration of local, Syria's and Egypt's territories post-1967 as provisional, assuming that an agreement was imminent that would maintain Jewish population majority in Israel proper and neighbor recognition of the nation.
Two generations of US Jews were thus brought up with pro-Israel ideology 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. Israeli flags were displayed in religious institutions. Seasonal activities were permeated with Israeli songs and learning of modern Hebrew, with Israeli guests instructing American teenagers Israeli customs. Travel to Israel expanded and reached new heights through Birthright programs during that year, offering complimentary travel to the country was offered to US Jewish youth. The nation influenced almost the entirety of US Jewish life.
Changing Dynamics
Interestingly, during this period post-1967, US Jewish communities grew skilled at religious pluralism. Acceptance and dialogue across various Jewish groups expanded.
Yet concerning Zionism and Israel – there existed tolerance found its boundary. Individuals might align with a right-leaning advocate or a leftwing Zionist, yet backing Israel as a Jewish homeland remained unquestioned, and criticizing that narrative categorized you outside the consensus – outside the community, as a Jewish periodical labeled it in an essay in 2021.
However currently, during of the destruction within Gaza, starvation, young victims and outrage about the rejection within Jewish communities who refuse to recognize their responsibility, that agreement has disintegrated. The liberal Zionist “center” {has lost|no longer
