Revisiting Our Common Roots

Retell Abraham & Sarah getting new names; ask each child the story of their own name.

Children wonder and discover; you facilitate more than you lecture.

• What do the ancestors’ stories teach us about Jewish family values?
• Which of those values feel important today? Which don’t?
• What is the story behind your name?

We begin with our common ancestors — Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebecca, Jacob, Leah & Rachel. Abraham and Sarah received new names from God, opening a conversation about names and identity.

• Avot v’Imahot — ancestors
• Shem — name

“Did everyone descend from these people?”

Jews see them as our spiritual family; people join the Jewish family in many ways too.

• Children can articulate our shared Jewish history.
• Children feel a connection to our forebears and how their lives connect.

Frame ancestry inclusively: spiritual family, adoptive family, and Jews by choice all belong fully.

Folktale. Abraham Smashes the Idols (Midrash) — young Abraham questions everything and discovers one God.

Changemaker. Yityish ‘Titi’ Aynaw — walked out of Ethiopia as a child, was orphaned, was raised by her grandparents in Israel, and became the first Ethiopian-Israeli Miss Israel — then used it to talk about who counts as one of us.

Whose story is the story of Abraham and Sarah — and how is it also ours?

“We explored our ancestors and the meaning of names. Try at home: tell your child the story of how they got their name.”