Israel Seminars’ interactive program takes a look at the fascinating realm of Jewish names, and examines how we can use our own names as a personal guide to Jewish culture and history.

Learn about the sources of Jewish family names. We can plan the session together with you, and base the activity on examples using the names of participants in the workshop.

See how names can teach us about the geography of the Jewish people.

Discover the trades and professions in Jewish communities around the world, the communal functions and Jewish dynasties.

Find out how migrations and Aliyah to Israel affected names, and some of the tricks to guessing how changes happened. 

Understand how legislation affected Jewish names and provided a source of income for the civil authorities.

Find out about the unique repertoire of "insult names" given to Jews in the past and why they agreed to use them.

Look at the unique way the Jewish people honored women in family names.

Decipher some names, break them down to their components and use the "Jewish Names Generator" to make up some names.

A fascinating, creative, interactive workshop using participants' names to spark a journey of discovery into our personal and national history.