Lindsey Miller laments about Pesach in Spain in her recent article, “The Brightest Star.”  While schooling in Sevilla, she was unable to find a Passover celebration amidst the overwhemingly Catholic city, and instead found herself ogling the magnificent display of Domingo de la Resurreccion—the local celebration of Easter.  One of the things she noted about the people of Sevilla was that despite their Catholic affiliation and religious expression, far less than the majority actually believe in God.  This was, of course, a point of disconnect for her.

Ms. Miller’s most profound observation and conclusion, however, was as follows:

“… Spain possesses a religious unity that the United States lacks.  We do not have those unifying characteristics like a common hair color, face shape or type of cuisine.  In Spain, everyone has the same thick, dark-haired look: not I….  Now, back in the U.S., I feel so at home in part because of the diversity—I’m able to blend in….  But it’s more than that.  In Spain, religion is intricately interwoven with the Spanish way of life: there is no separation.  Here, perhaps because we’re allowed the luxury of deciding how and to what extent we want to celebrate our religion, the opposite is true.  We can separate it as much or as little as we want.”

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In a recent article, George D. Hanus writes,

“The United States… is a country of immigrants.  For centuries, wave after wave arrived on these shores, fleeing persecution, hoping to better their economic condition and merge into the mainstream of American society…. Immigrant Jews rapidly learned English, adopted American dress styles and sent their children to colleges and graduate schools as they became respectable members of society…. Even while we were moving up the ladder, most Jews did not forget the Torah injunctions to remember our heritage.  So we Jews set up neighborhood synagogues, spent our free time involved with Federations and Jewish fraternal organizations… we collected money, attended meetings… and to religiously educate our children, we invented… Hebrew and Sunday school.  Imagine our surprise and shock, several generations later, when… our grown children did not follow in our Jewish footsteps.  Today… they are walking away from 4,000 years of Jewish history and we are shocked…. 

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This was the question that the World Jewish Digest asked this past high holiday season in light of a 2006 Harris Poll “showing that just 30 percent of Jews in a nationwide survey said they were ‘absolutely certain’ there was a God.”¹  According the issue’s cover story, 76% of Protestants, 64% of Catholics, and 93% of “Protestant Evangelicals… will tell you they are absolutely certain there is a God.  It simply begged the question: why don’t Jews believe in God?”

Why should we?  After all, we Jews are some of the most self-reliant, independent, stubborn people who ever walked the face of the earth.  Who needs God when you can take care of yourself?  Surely, we can take credit for the success we have had assimilating into the nations of the world.  We have every right to say, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” (Deuteronomy 8:16)

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