Read the information then click on the links below it to do the exercises.
THE JEWISH ME
GETTING A JEWISH NAME
NAMING THE BABY
Your parents were very happy when you were born. Your grandparents, relatives, and friends visited you at the hospital. Everyone agreed you were the most beautiful and smartest baby they had ever seen. But you had no name and were just a baby.
Your parents spent a lot of time discussing and choosing two names for you. Jewish children usually have two names, an English name and a Hebrew name.
There are special ways of choosing a Hebrew name. You may have been named after a close relative who has died, or perhaps, your parents just liked a certain name. In Israel, children are often given names from nature like types of flowers or trees. We are also named after famous Jewish heroes.
Once your parents decided, you were given your Hebrew name at a special baby-naming service in the synagogue.
If you are a boy, your Hebrew name is followed by the word BEN ("son"), followed by your father's and mother's Hebrew names.
If you are a girl, your Hebrew name is followed by the word BAT ("daughter"), followed by the Hebrew names of your father and mother.
Your father went to the synagogue for the service. He was called to the Torah and given an Aliyah. After saying the Torah blessings, the rabbi blessed you and gave you your Hebrew name. Jewish boys receive their names at a special ceremony called BRIT MILAH.
Even though you were tiny, you knew exactly what was happening.
What is your Hebrew name?
YA’AKOV’S (JACOB) NAME IS CHANGED
After living many years with his relatives in a place called Charan, Ya’akov decided to return to the Land of Israel with all his family. After several days, the travelers came near the land where Esau, Jacob’s brother, lived. Jacob sent some of his servants ahead to see Esau. Esau hated Ya’akov very much.
But the servants soon came back and said: “Your brother is coming to meet you with four hundred men!”
Jacob then took his finest sheep and goats and said to his servants: “Take these to my brother as my gift. Tell him I am coming to meet him.”
That night, Jacob could not sleep. He walked up and down in the moonlight, outside his camp. Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him. Before he could turn around, a strong arm went around his shoulders.
All night long, Jacob fought with this mighty man. Early in the morning, Jacob threw the man to the ground. But the man jumped to his feet.
Jacob knew that he had been wrestling with one of God’s angels. The angel spoke: “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, that is, ‘he who wrestles with God’.”
Then the angel was gone and Jacob was alone. From that day on, Jacob was called Israel.
WHY DID GOD CHANGE JACOB’S NAME TO ISRAEL?
Because the Torah tells us “he wrestled with God and won”
The name ISRAEL, in Hebrew: YISRAEL, is made up of two Hebrew words: Yisra, which means “to wrestle”, and El which means “God”.
Jacob’s new name was also a new start in his life. Jacob was no more the young boy who ran away from Esau. Now he was a grown man, strong, fearless, very rich, and the father of a very large family.
Now the new man YISRAEL, the man who had won a wrestling match with God, could face his angry brother without fear.
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