Many, if not most, Jews worldwide see the events of October 7, 2023, as a turning point in Jewish history. We thought the very existence of the State of Israel would ensure that the days of pogroms in which Jews were slaughtered en masse were behind us. We thought that Israel had not only one of the strongest military’s in the world but one of the most sophisticated intelligence services. How did the Hamas terrorist organization plan and implement such a murderous attack on the Jewish State, such a profound violation of the soul of the Jewish people?

The ensuing two years of war have proved to be as momentous and life-changing as the spark that ignited the Gaza War. Israel invaded the tiny Palestinian enclave of 2 million people with all of its might. Was Israel’s devastating response ultimately about freeing Jewish captives or taking revenge for the slaughter of 1200 Jewish souls, the raping of Jewish women, the mutilation of Jewish babies, and the kidnapping of 251 Israelis? Or, all of the above?

In the months that followed, much of the civilized world watched in horror as tens of thousands of Palestinians were slaughtered for being in the wrong building at the wrong time. Thousands of Palestinian children were killed for seeking shelter in the wrong school, hospital, or mosque.

Israel’s well-known claims to be the “most ethical army on Earth” did not make the pictures and statistics less painful to bear. The country born out of the embers of the Nazi Holocaust of the European Jewry was now being accused of committing genocide itself! Could that be possible? No way said most ardent Zionists in the diaspora. Major Jewish organizations in the United States and elsewhere tried as well as they could to suggest the carnage was normal in war and pleaded with the world not to forget who started the conflagration.

72,000 Palestinians are dead, 21,000 of whom were children. Now what? Had Israel gone completely off course? Or was the carnage more a reflection of the madness implemented by Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister and the messianic, radical Jewish nationalists he empowered to put him in office?

How do sane, reasonable Jews who have always loved and supported Israel respond when our core convictions about the sacredness of ALL human life are categorically violated?

I’m very proud of my own synagogue, B’nai Jeshurun in NYC, for recognizing that moving forward, Jews must engage in powerful, incredibly painful discussions about the Gaza War, the evolving Zionist dream, and the challenges to cherished Jewish ideals. The Jewish Tent at a Crossroads series brings renowned Jewish thinkers together to wrestle with one another and with the challenges to their own convictions and loyalties.

Below is a video recording of soul-searching dialogue that took place at BJ on January 6, 2026.

A Conversation with Rabbi Jill Jacobs (T’ruah), Esther Sperber (Smol Emuni), Peter Beinart, and Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove (Park Avenue Synagogue), moderated by Rabbi Irwin Kula