Published: 6 April 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
ARE YOU A RELIGIOUS MAN? I’m not, unless you take science, humanism or atheism as a religion. But I qualify that by saying I’m Jewish and proud of it.
On Friday nights, we always do the lighting of the candles, drinking of the sacramental kiddush wine and saying of a few prayers over the challah – the bread. You sing the song to welcome the Sabbath Queen, bless your children, then you eat a lot of food. I love doing it, and it’s an excuse to bring our kids home.
It’s a cultural connection to my father, and to other Jews around the world. But if I have a god, it’s the god of science.
Alan Finkel: ‘Never let the pursuit of perfection get in the way of the very good’ (SMH)
Photo: Alan Finkel (Simon Schluter)
