I am a Jew.

When I say the word “Jew” these days, I find I need to clarify often unasked question “What kind of Jew?” This is still better than when I was living in rural Texas. In Texas the only times I heard the word Jew it was used as a verb. Either that or it was always prefaced by a swear word. One night in Texas I said that I was a Jew on stage and a local person told me I ought to be nicer to myself, that we Jews were almost as good as white people. But I digress.

Notwithstanding the above am I a bearded, tzitzit wearing, payos dangling Orthodox Jew; a bacon eating synagogue attending hypocritical Jew; a middle class businessman Jew with a wife, kids and a gentile mistress; a granola eating, lactose intolerant, gluten free, radical feminist Jew; a reconstructionist showbiz Jew, a completely secularized, bagel eating gustatorial Jew; a humanistic vegan Jew?

Michele Bachman and Rick Perry call themselves Jews.

No. Just No.

As the High Holy days arise upon us I often reflect on what kind of Jew I am. I was raised observant and on Rosh Hashanah I often muse on the prayer which declares that God will judge the world on Rosh Hashanah and seal His judgment on Yom Kippur. These days I get more comfort from Leonard Cohen’s “Who By Fire”.

I am an Atheist and Jew. I am not a self hating Jew making Jewish jokes and then begging you to love me. I am not a self hating Atheist who hides behind his beliefs. I am a Jewish Atheist and I often muse how the two beliefs can coexist peacefully. How can I be both Jewish and an Atheist?

To my understanding these two beliefs can coexist and here is how: Judaism to my understanding is not a religion in the conventional sense. One does not become a Jew via belief system. One becomes a Jew by birth or by action. A Jew is someone born of a Jewish mother or someone who has taken on the day to day habits of a Jew to the point that a rabbinical court recognizes the fact that this person is indistinguishable from a conventional Jew. That is to say, a person is a Jew by practice, not belief. In fact, no belief is needed.

Atheism, on the other hand, is a belief. For me, Atheism is the belief that there is no God. Not that I do not believe in God, but there is no God. I am not saying that God is there but I don’t believe. I am saying there is nothing there at all.

Are these two beliefs compatible? Is it possible to be an Atheist Jew? Yes it is. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov said that “the entire world is a narrow bridge and the point is to not fall.” And while we don’t fall together I wish all of you, friends, acquaintances, strangers a happy healthy and prosperous new year.

Shanah Tovah

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