A teacher once asked her students what religious objects they had in their homes. One child described a painting before which his mother knelt each day. Another spoke of a statue with incense burning before it. A third said, “In our bathroom we have a little platform with numbers on it. Every morning my mother stands on it and screams, ‘Oh my God!’”

We all have “religious objects.” The real question is what they mean.

For Jews, religious identity is classically defined through halachah – through mitzvah observance. We are Jews because we are Jewish according to Jewish law, and we express that identity through learning Torah and keeping mitzvot. But what about cultural Jewish identity? What about bagels and lox, Jewish humor, Hebrew names, or showing up to a Seder even if one is not fully observant? Is there any value to being culturally Jewish?

The Pesach story, especially as understood by Chazal, offers a fascinating lens through which to explore this question.

If you read the Torah’s account of slavery in Egypt, you might assume Bnei Yisrael were faithful monotheists. The Torah tells us that when Pharaoh died, the people cried out and their cries rose to God. Later, in recalling that period, they say explicitly that they cried out to God. On the surface, they appear spiritually intact.

But Sefer Yechezkel paints a starkly different picture. God rebukes the people for clinging to idolatry in Egypt. According to this account, they were steeped in the very practices of the Egyptians and nearly worthy of destruction.

So which is it? Were they believers – or idolaters?

Some, like the Rambam, take Yechezkel at face value: aside from Shevet Levi, the Bnei Yisrael succumbed to idolatry, and redemption came only because of God’s promise to Avraham. Others, such as the Ran and Rav Chasdai Crescas (cited by the Abrabanel), argue that the majority remained faithful, and Yechezkel refers only to a minority.

But a third approach is particularly striking. The Mechilta teaches that........

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