There are several opinions. Now you know, being a Jew means being born of Jewish parents. That, on the one hand; but on the other hand, to declare, even though you are an atheist, that you somehow belong to a cult. Everyone belongs to a cult. We belong to the mosaic cult. I am a Jew of the Mosaic cult. So my direct ancestor was Moses. After Moses was David, after David was... and now I am. That is my conception. Someone said something, a great man, I don't remember who: A Jew is he who feels Jewish. And I agree.
... In Auschwitz, in the greatest not only Jewish but human tragedy of all time, a few men in a shack gathered to debate whether or not God exists. After long debates, they concluded in the morning that God does not exist because if He did, He could not allow so many misfortunes to happen. After this conclusion, they said: “And now let's davenen (let's pray),” so they went and took their prayer tools, the tefillin and the tallit and all that, and they prayed.
