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Jeff’s comments actually brought back a number of memories. I grew up in for the most part in a non-church going Christian household. (Here I’m reminded of Thomas Luckmann’s book The Invisible Religion). My paternal grandfather fled to America during the early 1900’ s when the religious persecution and ethnic genocide of Assyrians was taking place in the Middle East. My mother, a Catholic who drifted away from her church, kept symbols associated with Christian and many other religions around our home, and we respected the holidays of others. She always thought of herself as a very spiritual person. The exclusion that I felt wasn’t religious, it mostly associated with class: spending a quarter to go to a movie was a family sacrifice, and we didn’t have enough money for either Boy Scout or Little League uniforms so I wasn’t able to participate in those organizations.

Our town didn’t have a high school so we had a choice of going to one of three high schools in other towns: one known for being a blue collar school with few graduates that went to college; one which had a portion of its students who went on to college; and a third which had high numbers of its graduates that went on to college. Virtually all of the Jews in my town went to the third one, as well as a number of the rest of us who aspired to attend college. I went on to attend a university where most of the students were commuters.

My best friend in college was a Jewish refugee from Egypt. His family fled Egypt after Nasser came to power, and the state tried seizing his family’s assets. My friend’s father was a prominent orthopedic surgeon who had to start over as an intern in the United States. During Jewish holidays, I attended gatherings in my friend’s apartment and he joined in holiday celebrations in our apartment. We learned a lot around about our traditions around our respective family’s kitchen and dining room tables.

As an undergraduate, I took a course on comparative religions with Theodor Gaster, a Biblical scholar who helped translate the Dead Sea Scrolls. Professor Gaster’s father was the Chief Rabbi of the English Sephardi community in London. Professor Gaster when asked about religious beliefs offered a pragmatic answer: he believed that agnostics didn’t have any of the freedoms associated with being an atheist, nor the communal and spiritual support of believers so his leaning was towards being a believer. As he said, you never know. At the time, it sounded convincing to me and since then I have tried to benefit from what I considered the best aspects of all religions to which I have been exposed throughout the world. For instance, I have felt comfortable visiting the houses of worship of most major religions; have been intrigued by the religious practices of many indigenous peoples; and have enjoyed participating in a variety of religious celebrations. For the most part, I have felt welcome. I feel fortunate.

Happy holidays to all.