Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Shalom, and welcome to new jewish dad. I'm Jacob Sager, father of five. And let's talk about something close to my heart, your family's unique jewish story. Because here's the thing. Being Jewish is not about heritage or lineage or going through the motions of traditions, although all of those things definitely apply. And I'm not a rabbi or the definitive authority on what is or isn't jewish. But I can tell you it's about understanding where you come from, and more importantly, it's about deciding where you're going. You know, we're told in the Torah specifically to teach our children about our history, to make it real for them. And this applies to all jewish people in every generation, and it applies just as much to the convert as it does to the person who is born here. The Torah says, and you shall tell your child on that day, saying, it is because of this that God did for me when I went out of Egypt. And that wording, it strikes me it's not just about tell them what happened to our ancestors. It's tell them what God did for me. Tell them this story in the present tense. Have it resound and echo forwards and backwards in a way that is so real and true that it is not a myth. It's personal. It's about connecting our kids not just to some abstract history, but to our lived experience as Jews. So what does this look like in practice? How do we pass on our family's jewish story? Well, it's not about doing one of those DNA tests or tracing a family tree, though. Those are cool tools. It's about really digging into the experiences, the values, the traditions that have shaped your family over generations. Start by looking at your own relationship with Judaism. What does being Jewish mean to you, your gut? Is it about culture, faith, a sense of belonging? There's no one right answer here. It's your jewish identity. It's uniquely yours and the way that you want to express it through your family and with your children. Now think about your family's journey. Where did your ancestors come from? What kind of misogyn did they have to deal with? What traditions did they hold on to for dear life? And which ones did they let go of? What stories did they live? And what stories did they tell you?
[00:02:19] That's your kid's inheritance. But here's the wild part. You're not just passing on the past, you know. Right now, you're actively shaping your family's jewish story and your child's 6th sense, which is the sense of history and meaning. The choices you make, the way you celebrate holidays, the values you emphasize, all of this becoming part of your family's unique jewish narrative. And it's okay if you don't have all the answers or if the way you do. Jewish looks different from the family next door. Judaism. It's always been evolving, adapting, localized. What matters is that you're engaging with it, wrestling with it, making it meaningful for your mishpacha. So talk to your kid about what being jewish means to you, to them. Share stories from when you were a kid, the good stuff and the messy stuff. Be real about the things you're still figuring out. It's okay to not have it all together.
[00:03:17] No one really did in the Torah. And listen, really listen to your kids. They might come out with some insights or questions that will totally blow your mind and open up to your family to new levels of depth.
[00:03:31] Let them be a part of shaping your family's jewish identity. Maybe they'll connect with the parts of the tradition that never spoke to you and bring it into your household in a richly meaningful way. I remember a few years back at our Passover Seder, we started this tradition of sharing memories from Passover seders of years past. And my eldest, she asked this question that just stops me in my track. She wants to know, why don't we have any family heirlooms from the old country? She has just this real concept of some kind of abstract jewelry, and it sparks this incredible conversation about the different trials and tribulations that our family went through in the last few generations and what they had to leave behind and what they chose to carry with them. Not just the physical stuff, but values, traditions, dreams. For their future, for my parents future, for my future. That moment, it changed the way we think about our family's jewish story and brought it into this living, speaking, listening thing that we were sharing. It was the present moment. We started digging deeper into our history, but we also were just creating history and being more intentional about the story we're creating for the next Passover Seder. It's become this ongoing schmooze in our house, the idea that we're inheriting and creating our jewish narrative. Or at least that's how dad keeps framing it. So here's my challenge to you this week. Start exploring and sharing your family's jewish story in real ways. Maybe you start a family jewish journal where you write down memories, traditions, questions, or get your kids to do some things in there, too. Maybe you pick up one family story or tradition to really research to understand the roots or maybe you make a family tree. But instead of just names and dates, you add in jewish milestones or values or what was going on in the world or quotes that really capture who that person was and what they stood for. The point is, your family's jewish story. It's one of a kind. It's yours. It's amazing. It's shaped by the generations before you, but it's also being written right now by you and your kiddos. Embracing. Just enjoy. Like. The joy of the story is the complexity, the questions, the way your jewish journey grows and changes in your lifetime and over the many generations. You're part of a story that goes back thousands of years, and you have the power to make it matter for the next generation. And the way that we do it is by telling the story. So this is Jacob Sager reminding you that your family's jewish story, it's a treasure. Dig for it, shape it, share it. It's your legacy. And it's just getting started. Shalom.
