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Jewish identity is based upon two components. One, the core, is established in the early years of childhood, and much of it may become and remain unconscious. The second, the manifest identity, may vary from time to time in response to external circumstances and the individual's current psychic state. The unconscious core of Jewish identity is established by identification of the young child with the parents, by his or her need for generational continuity, by sensitivity to the distinction between family and nonfamily, by acceptance of group myths, and by the use of sensitivity to language, names, dress, and ritual as a means of establishing identification with family and community. Manifest Jewish identity is determined by the operation of several influences upon core identity. These include the vicissitudes of adolescence, adolescent need for continuity, adolescent need for and fear of commitment, the pluralistic American social environment, the problems of regulation of self-esteem, and the changes of outlook and social expectation after the first two decades of life. On the current American scene, the core identity offered to Jewish children is attenuated in several respects, but not critically so. While one is distressed by obvious problems in Jewish identity exhibited by many deviant young people, their problems should not be confused with the situation prevailing among more wholesome adolescents.