I once heard a Jewish relative say that one could be Jewish and not believe in God. Having read the Hebrew Scriptures (aka Old Testament) through, that simply made no sense to me—isn’t the entire Jewish identity based on being the People chosen by God and living in a covenant relationship with Him?
Well, the was a Jewish people before there was the revelation on Mt. Sinai, which gave Jews a unique, exclusive religion.
But not before God revealed himself to Abraham