There are people who deny God’s existence and yet believe with all their heart in the “eternity of Israel.”
There are people who are unwilling to accept anything that is part of the religion, of the tradition, of the heritage of our ancestors, and yet they stand and fight for things they think are good and right.
These may be intellectual or simple people, they may have lost their way or they may be on course – but they have a wealth of true faith “in their mouths and in their hearts.”
There are hindrances and obstacles that lead them to think that they have no share in their heritage.
They think that true religious faith is found somewhere far away in the high heavens, inaccessible to them, and so they do not search for it in the closest place possible.
They do not nurture and develop the kernel that is found in their own selves.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz