1 What is Jewish identity?

1.1 Unpacking the question

When I say that I am a Jew, with a strong sense of Jewish identity, I am making a claim that can be evaluated in a variety of ways. My claim to be Jewish will be assessed against psychological and sociological reference points – in what way do I understand myself to be Jewish, and how does the Jewish community and the world at large respond to my claim? Am I Jewish according to some criterion of "Jewishness" defined by history and tradition, or something else? And what is this concept or quality of "Jewishness?" Is it ethnic, religious, or a combination of the two? If my identity as a Jew is expressed in unorthodox terms (and the word "orthodoxy" begs a series of further questions), how is my own version of Jewish identity to be evaluated? Is there such a thing as "Jewish identity", or should we rather be speaking in the plural, of "Jewish identities?"

The question needs considerable unpacking, like the age-old question "who is a Jew?" Just as this question conceals a series of further questions such as "By what norms and criteria is the category Jew to be defined? Who has the right to define it? Why do they need to define it? Who needs to know? In whose interests is it to have such a definition? and Who is required to accept it?" so the question "What shapes Jewish identity?" similarly requires careful consideration, especially when the additional claim is made that Jewish identity is fulfilled in Jesus.