Wikipedia's first sentence called it “conception of the awareness of the underlying unity that makes an individual a part of the jewish people”. Today it says “concept of the jewish people as a collective and the sense of belonging across religious”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
The concept of peoplehood has a double meaning. The first is descriptive, as a concept factually describing the existence of the Jews as a people , i.e., a national ethnoreligious indigenous group. The second is normative, as a value that describes the feeling of belonging and commitment to the Jewish people. The concept of Jewish peoplehood is a paradigm shift for some in Jewish life. Insisting that the mainstream of Jewish life is focused on Jewish nationalism ( Zionism ), they argue that Jewish life should instead focus on Jewish peoplehood, however the majority of Jews see peoplehood as encompassing both Jews living inside Israel and outside in diaspora. The concept of peoplehood, or " Klal Yisrael " has permeated Jewish life for millennia, and to focus on it does not constitute a shift from the focus on Jewish nationhood. Jews have been extremely effective in sustaining a sense of joint responsibility towards their people and its members for over 2,000 years, since their displacement by the Romans, subsequent enslavement, dispersal as a refugee community throughout the world, and subsequent return to their homeland in 1948. The concepts of Jews as a nation and as a peoplehood are not necessarily at odds with one another. The very concept of defining Jews as a nation, people, or civilization is historically accurate, and suggests a wide variety of values within the context of Judaism also.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1284666574.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Jewish peoplehood ( Hebrew : עמיות יהודית , Amiut Yehudit ) – The awareness of the underlying unity that makes an individual Jew a part of the Jewish people. The concept of peoplehood has a double meaning. The first is descriptive, as a concept factually describing the existence of the Jews as a people. The second is normative, as a value that describes the feeling of belonging and commitment to the Jewish people. Some believe that the concept of Jewish Peoplehood is a paradigm shift in Jewish life, especially those connected to KolDor, a network of young Jewish professionals. Insisting that the mainstream of Jewish life is focused on Zionism, they argue that Jewish life should instead focus on Jewish Peoplehood. Others maintain that the concept of Peoplehood, or "Klal Yisrael" has permeated Jewish life for millennia, and to focus on it does not constitute a shift. Indeed, Jews have been extremely effective in sustaining for over 2,000 years, a sense of joint responsibility towards their people and its members. At the same time, the concepts of Peoplehood and Zionism are not necessarily at odds with one another. The very concept of defining Judaism as a people or a "civilization", opens the doors to include a wide variety of values within the context of Judaism.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370992417.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The concept of peoplehood has a double meaning. The first is descriptive, as a concept factually describing the existence of the Jews as a people. The second is normative, as a value that describes the feeling of belonging and commitment to the Jewish people. Some believe that the concept of Jewish peoplehood is a paradigm shift in Jewish life. Insisting that the mainstream of Jewish life is focused on Zionism , they argue that Jewish life should instead focus on Jewish peoplehood. Others maintain that the concept of peoplehood, or " Klal Yisrael " has permeated Jewish life for millennia, and to focus on it does not constitute a shift. Jews have been extremely effective in sustaining for over 2,000 years, a sense of joint responsibility towards their people and its members. At the same time, the concepts of peoplehood and Zionism are not necessarily at odds with one another. The very concept of defining Judaism as a people or a "civilization" suggests a wide variety of values within the context of Judaism.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 648367748.
The opening as it stood in 2020
The concept of peoplehood has a double meaning. The first is descriptive, as a concept factually describing the existence of the Jews as a people. The second is normative, as a value that describes the feeling of belonging and commitment to the Jewish people. Some believe that the concept of Jewish peoplehood is a paradigm shift in Jewish life. Insisting that the mainstream of Jewish life is focused on Jewish nationalism ( Zionism ), they argue that Jewish life should instead focus on Jewish peoplehood. Others maintain that the concept of peoplehood, or "Klal Yisrael" has permeated Jewish life for millennia, and to focus on it does not constitute a shift from the focus on Jewish nationhood. Jews have been extremely effective in sustaining a sense of joint responsibility towards their people and its members for over 2,000 years.At the same time, the concepts of Jews as a nation and as a peoplehood are not necessarily at odds with one another. The very concept of defining Judaism as a people or a "civilization" suggests a wide variety of values within the context of Judaism.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 948163586.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
The concept of peoplehood has a double meaning. The first is descriptive, as a concept factually describing the existence of the Jews as a people - i.e a national ethnoreligious indigenous group. The second is normative, as a value that describes the feeling of belonging and commitment to the Jewish people. The concept of Jewish peoplehood is a paradigm shift for some in Jewish life.Insisting that the mainstream of Jewish life is focused on Jewish nationalism ( Zionism ), they argue that Jewish life should instead focus on Jewish peoplehood, however the majority of Jews see peoplehood as encompassing both Jews living inside Israel and outside in diaspora. The concept of peoplehood, or "Klal Yisrael" has permeated Jewish life for millennia, and to focus on it does not constitute a shift from the focus on Jewish nationhood. Jews have been extremely effective in sustaining a sense of joint responsibility towards their people and its members for over 2,000 years, since their displacement by the Romans, subsequent enslavement, dispersal as a refugee community throughout the world, and subsequent return to their homeland in 1948. The concepts of Jews as a nation and as a peoplehood are not necessarily at odds with one another. The very concept of defining Jews as a people or civilization is historically accurate, and suggests a wide variety of values within the context of Judaism also.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1175568444.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “conception of the awareness of the underlying unity that makes an individual a part of the jewish people”. Today it says “concept of the jewish people as a collective and the sense of belonging across religious”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since October 7, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
conception of the awareness of the underlying unity that makes an individual a part of the jewish people
Now
concept of the jewish people as a collective and the sense of belonging across religious
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.