EXOD2 The traditional name in the Torah describing the Jewish people, hundreds of times in the text, is Bnei Yisrael, which means the children of Israel, or Jacob. Since Abraham was the "father" of the Jewish people, why isn't the nation called Bnei Avraham, the children of Abraham? It is precisely because the family had to be united before they could become a nation. Only after there was a united family in Jacob's time did the Jews become a people. The first references to the Jewish people as a people and as the Children of Israel came after they became united as a family. Genesis 46:8 The idea of family is so central to Judaism that the name of the nation itself is the name of the first united family of Jews (Children of Jacob-Israel). The importance and unity of the Jewish family is not an isolated reference in Genesis. The theme continues in Exodus in the first verse, which describes how the Jews came to Egypt as a united family. But then, in Egypt, because of slavery, the unity of the family was in danger of being dismantled. From Rashi's description (commentary on Exodus 2:1), of how one of the most prominent families separated in order to avoid the killing of a potential child by Pharaoh, we can imagine that many other families also separated at that time for similar reasons. It was only because of their daughter Miriam's plea to her parents, says Rashi, that Amram and Yoheved reunited. Miriam used the logic that her parents were acting far more cruelly than Pharaoh. Pharaoh wanted to kill off only the males, but by separating and not having children, her parents were denying both males and females. Thus, as Amram and Yocheved reunite, it becomes the symbol of the reunification of the family as is highlighted in the verse, "a man from the family (house) of Levi took the daughter of Levi." The result is the birth of Moses (Exodus 2:1-2), the beginning of the redemption. It is clear, then, that the redemption of the Jewish people could not occur until they were again reunited as families.