If you think about it, this doesn’t make sense. In Israel’s congress, the Knesset, politicians are charged with making policies for the Jewish state. In the U.S. Congress, politicians regularly fight over church and state.

But it’s only Congress that opens with a prayer, and even before the Pledge of Allegiance. What’s more, according to a new history from C-SPAN’s Howard Mortman, 441 Jewish rabbis have given 633 opening prayers — 633 more than in the Knesset.