Very nicely and aptly put, not to mention that the opposite to ” Re-ligens”, fearing G-d, pious, is “ne-ligens”, negligent, a term to consider and not neglect….
It also orginates with the Greek “alegein” to reverence

ORIGIN: Middle English from Old French, or from Latin religio(n-) ‘obligation, bond, reverence,’ based on Latin religare ‘to bind.’

Since Judaism is an eternal bond, obligation and reverence for Hashem, I would say it can surely be defined as a religion.

More than that, Jews are a FAMILY. The Children of Jacob. B’H!

Unity and peace are G-dly. Israel is a light to the nations.
Infeld has cast only darkness with his narrow-minded comments.

Provocative as the smart Avraham is, he is only offering a vorspeis for what is quite a necessary incursion into the ACTUAL validity of Judaism.
To the mind accustomed to easy foray into existential formulas, Judaism as religion is good enough. A Jew should follow the traditions and that shall make him aceptable to his fellow Jews and himself as well.
Try going beyond the comforts of etymological norms and you get scores of comments as most of the ones above, but, most definitely ATTENTION. Yet, the main question remains: is there room for listening to the provocative proposition. I hope so……………….

Therefore, Judaism , to me, is the splendid compilation of ethical substantive acts of pure CELESTIAL wisdom. By far the most consistent effort in inspiring the HUMAN into being what we are all MEANT to be. That protocols have been established by which the mind is condi tioned to observe and introspect with passion and enraged intellect ( enraged by the anxiewty to discover WITHIN the tenets of Judaism infinite values ) its edifice, is preciesly what gives the FALSE impression that the”practice” of Judaism is analogue to what Avraham objected as being on the par with his fortunate choice – or his parents – of devotion. True, the religions listed alongside Judaism on that billboard are vastly distinct from Judaism, and I cannot abuse Henry’s patience in developing the distinctive contents , and the unifying term of “religions” as a melting notional …mish-mash, does not do justice to the stark distinctions. Circle closed !
To be fair, the “others” have tried, and to a great extent succeeded, to emulate in populist terms – mind you – the said existential construct that Judaism has arrived at long before “they” launched their product, but those “others” are as much a “non-religion” as Avraham is spruiking his own original ( actally not so ) “Original and Best” ethical spiel.I, for one, I have seen this little game played by so many others for centuries now.
So ,semitic semantics are at play here and all and sundry are welcome to fall pre(a)y to it …………….

My goodness, the mind boggles.

It doesn’t say much for **the prestigious Ervin Graf Oration**

What a waste of $30 !!