The “concept of ‘Jewish identity’ seems to have entered the Jewish communal vocabulary sometime after World War II”

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[T]he concept of “Jewish identity”…seems to have entered the Jewish communal vocabulary sometime after World War II, and, by the end of the 20th century, had become part of the internal logic of Jewish life and Jewish education in the United States and beyond. In some circles, “Jewish identity” had become something of a holy grail or ultimate pursuit. Camps, day schools, travel tours to Israel, early childhood interventions, and virtually every other imaginable delivery mechanism for Jewish education had been tasked with enhancing, fostering, growing, nurturing, strengthening, and otherwise doing good things for “Jewish identity.”

Ari Kelman, “Jewish Identity Ain’t What it Used to Be”, eJewish Philanthropy (30 May 2014) [http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/jewish-identity-aint-what-it-used-to-be/]

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