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Jewish Learning


Thoughts and Questions from Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder


Off and Running

Every Man Has a Name
By Zelda
Every man has a name
Given him by God
And given by his father and his mother
Every man has a name
Given him by his stature and his way of smiling,
And given him by his clothes.
Every man has a name
Given him by the mountains
And given him by his walls
Every man has a name
Given him by the planets
And given him by his neighbors
Every man has a name
Given him by his sins
And given him by his longing
Every man has a name given him by those who hate him
And given him by his love
Every man has a name
Given him by his holidays
And given him by his handiwork
Every man has a name
Given him by the seasons of the year
And given him by his blindness
Every man has a name
Given him by the sea
And given him
By his death.


Questions
With a group or on your own, read the poem. After you have read the poem, consider the following questions for group discussion or private reflection.

• How does this poem connect with the struggle that Avery/Mycole Antwonisha faces? How is it different? (Note that Zelda only identifies one name that is given by a parent).

• In this poem, is there a hierarchy to the names that Zelda identifies? Is there a hierarchy among Avery/Mycole Antwonisha’s names? If so what is it, and why. If not, what makes you think that there is no hierarchy?

• Why do our different names matter so much to us?

• Who controls our name? In the film? In the poem?

• If we were to apply Zelda’s principles of naming to the main character of the film, what other names might she be called? How might those names affect her sense of self?

• What names are you called? What do the names that you are called reflect about yourself? What do the names of people who are close to reflect about them?

• What role does/should the community play in supporting or limiting Avery/ Mycole Antwonisha’s sense of self? Is your community similar? Different?

• If you could choose your own name, would you choose the one that your parents gave you or would you want to choose a new one? Explain your choice.






 My Name is My Humanity:
 Naming and Identity in Off and Running
and Jewish Sources

According to the rabbis of ancient times, the ability to name is a powerful and specifically human skill. As it is told in the Talmud, when God created the creatures of the land and the sky, God asked the angels to name the animals, but they had no idea what to call the animals. God then turned to Adam who looked upon the assembled creatures and Adam easily named them one by one. Indeed, naming was the first human action recorded in the Bible. And if for humans the ability to name makes us human, our names also define our humanity.

In the movie Off and Running, the main character struggles with her name and her sense of self. As with most adopted children, she has two names, the one given to her by her birth mother and the one given to her by her adoptive family. She has grown up being called Avery by her parents, by her friends, at school and track meets. Yet as she tries to understand who she is in relationship to her multiple identities, she plays with Mycole Antwonisha a contemporary African American name, given to her by her birth mother. She writes it out artistically and takes it on as an online name. Even as she leaves the home of her adoptive family, the depth of the internal conflict in understanding her sense of self and belonging can be seen in her choice not to change her name and completely cut ties with the person she came into being growing up as Avery.

The Israeli poet Zelda Schneersohn Mishkovsky, who was known professionally as Zelda, wrote a well known and powerful poem about names. The poem which discusses the many names that we each acquire as we progress through life suggests that each of us has multiple selves. And one must understand our names in order for us to understand ourselves. The poem provides us with a lense through which we can explore Avery/Mycole’s personal struggles and relate them to our own lives.




Chava Alberstein Singing
Every Man Has a Name