Some time ago I had an interesting conversation with a well-known Catholic journalist in which we both wondered about Ed Miliband and his Jewish background. How Jewish was he? Had he or had he not had a bar mitzvah? This last question is given an answer in the current edition of the New Statesman, which focuses on all matters Jewish, and which carries an article by Ed Miliband which you can read here.  Ed says: “I am not religious. But I am Jewish. My relationship with my Jewishness is complex. But whose isn’t?” He goes on to say: “They [his parents] assimilated into British life outside the Jewish community. There was no bar mitzvah, no Jewish youth group; sometimes I feel I missed out.” Can one be Jewish and not religious? This is really a matter for our Jewish brethren to discuss among themselves, but it is of great interest to us Catholics as well. There are many people who identify themselves as Catholics and who never go to Mass. That said, when Ed Miliband uses the word “religious” he intends it in a somewhat different way to us. Judaism is the religion of doing, as much as believing, it is commonly said. So, does Ed mean that he is Jewish, but not religious in the sense of not keeping the Law, not the sort of person who is observant of the Torah? But metaphysically where does he stand? He may well eat in the House of Commons canteen, but what does he actually believe? “Sometimes I feel I missed out” strikes me as eloquent. Does he mean that he missed out on the sense of community that being an observant Jew would have brought with it? Or does it mean that he feels the absence of God in his life? Or both? I find myself quite touched by what Ed says here: