Rabbi Susan Abramson wanted to find a way to teach Jewish traditions to children, and she has done so through aliens, a sassy talking cat and a family of superheroes.

Abramson stopped by Tifereth Israel Congregation on Sunday, Oct. 25 to discuss her work as a children’s author. Abramson, a Rabbi from Burlington, Massachusetts, said the idea behind her book series, “Rabbi RocketPower,” was to find a way to get her then five-year-old son interested in reading and religion.

While she wanted her child to develop a strong Jewish identity, her own upbringing was not heavily influenced by Judaism.

“My parents weren’t very religious,” said Abramson. “On Friday nights, we used to have a fight. I used to say, ‘Let’s go to temple.’ And they used to say, ‘Can’t you stay home and watch TV?’”

Before she drafted her story, Abramson researched what kinds of books were available to her son.

“I did a little survey of Jewish children’s literature, and I was very disappointed,” she said. “Most literature at that time was very Orthodox-centric. Women’s roles in Jewish children’s literature was very much stereotyped. Girls had a back seat.”

And that’s how Rabbi RocketPower (a.k.a. Beatrice Ann Mensch or B.A. Mensch) came to be. Rabbi RocketPower, along with her son and husband, formed a superhero team to solve mysteries. The stories revolve around Jewish holidays and typically an alien descends on the planet, causing havoc in the process. The team has to solve the problem the alien creates and save the holiday.

“The most important character of all is our cat, Purr, who’s a cat we actually adopted when my son was six. The minute we got her, she was always getting in trouble,” she said.

“She is the character that children love the best because she’s always saying these irreverent things, which is the reason why none of the major Jewish publishers would touch my book,” said Abramson.

Before becoming a book series, she would read the stories to her son’s classmates, and they gave her characters an overwhelmingly positive reaction.

“I read these stories in our religious school over the years before they were published. There was a young woman (Ariel DiOrio) in my congregation who is a talented artist. She would always present me images of what Rabbi RocketPower would look like,” she said.

Soon other members of her congregation were on board, including an art director, an editor and even someone willing to publish the first book, “Rabbi RocketPower and the Mystery of the Missing Menorahs.”

There are now four books in the series, and she plans to author another sometime in the future. Her most recent book, “Challah: A Chewish Guide to the Torah,” takes a break from aliens and heroes. It serves as both an overview of the Torah and a photo collection of her hand-sculpted challah creations.

She hopes that her books act as her own contribution to the faith, and that her stories can teach children beyond the boundaries of Burlington.

“If I could write a children’s book that reflected a modern American Jewish family, where women had a more important role, maybe that would be something which would connect more people,” said Abramson.

For more of B.A. Mensch’s heroic exploits, visit the official site at rabbirocketpower.com.