For more than 40 years – having stepped into this sacred calling when I was barely more than a young man myself – I have had the profound privilege of serving as a mohel. Over those four decades, standing at cradle after cradle across every conceivable spectrum of Jewish life, I have witnessed a recurring truth that defies conventional sociological theory:

You can meet a Jew who has not stepped inside a shul in 30 years, who observes no traditional dietary laws, and who identifies as a resolute secularist. But hand that same person an eight-day-old son, and they will almost invariably reach out to bring him into the covenant.

In Elul, the season of teshuvah (return), we do not construct a new persona; we uncover who we already are.

In Elul, the season of teshuvah (return), we do not construct a new persona; we uncover who we already are.

Why? Because when intellectual arguments and ideological labels are stripped away, nearly every Jew shares one unspoken, visceral boundary: no one truly wants to write themselves -or their child – out of the book of our people. We don’t walk away.

The data bear this out with astonishing clarity. In Israel today, roughly 45% of the Jewish population identifies as completely secular, yet........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)