Amim is a Hebrew word that means “peoples” or “nations”. That includes everyone. Quite appropriate for the character of our story who represents the pain caused to all persons who are rejected because people prejudicially see things about them they don’t like, without even getting to know them. This is a UNIVERSAL phenomenon that causes great pain in children. They refused to encounter him on his own terms and prejudicially tore him to pieces. This is also what we do to Christ in our fear of the love of God that goes beyond our human precepts and appropriations.
By offering the story in the form of a child, a refugee, from one culture going to another and finding rejection, every child can identify with him. Could he be Jewish? Yes. Could he be Syrian? Yes. Could he be Arabic? Yes. Could he be any child. Most definitely. That is the point.
What then do we see in Amim and his story? By referring to the Mosaic Revealed Holy NAME as an initial quote, we see that the starting point of all peoples is God and we are ALL created in the Image of the One I AM. Amim’s name is also a play in the Divine Name “AM I M” – hearkening back to the question in each of our souls about who we are and where we come from.
