According to a holiday message he posted on the social network he created, Marc Zuckerberg has found religion, it seems. On Christmas Day, Zuckerberg posted that he was “celebrating Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from Priscilla, Max, Beast and me,” he wrote, naming his wife, daughter and dog. A commenter then asked him: “Aren’t you an atheist?” Zuckerberg wrote back: “No. I was raised Jewish and then I went through a period where I questioned things, but now I believe religion is very important.”
Zuckerberg considered himself as an atheist for years, but perhaps he’s doing “Teshuva” (repentance)! The rest of the post is the following:
“Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from Priscilla, Max, Beast and me! Seeing the moments of joy and family shared on Facebook today is one of my favorite things about our community. I hope you're surrounded by friends and loved ones, and that you have a chance to reflect on all the meaningful things in your life. May the light of your friendships continue to brighten your life and our entire world.”
Though religion and G-d is now important to Zuckerberg, he didn’t answer further questions about what he does believe in. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have publicly pledged to donate 99 percent of their Facebook stock, a year ago in honor of the birth of their daughter. At the time, those shares were worth about $45 billion and his pledge is one of the largest philanthropic commitments ever. They’ve already met with Pope Francis and discussed bringing communication technology to the world’s poor. After food, water electricity and schooling, technology may help close the gaps between the first world and third world countries.
We hope that one good thing leads to the next and that Marc will come to embrace Judaism where he comes from.