Timeline question from a mostly-clueless goy

Shalom there, r/Judaism! I am a “cultural” Catholic, aka my family’s Catholic (so, SO Catholic) on both sides but my parents were rebels, lapsed af, and didn’t raise me to believe anything in particular. HOWEVER, I was chin-deep in Catholicism all around me growing up, read numerous Bibles I happened upon/were gifted to me by hopeful relatives, went to a Catholic high school (my choice! bad choice!) where we did, uh, THEIR version of “bible study,” and would up talking a Hebrew Scriptures (and later, “New’ Testament”) class in college.

ANYWAY. The point is, I do not belong to any religion, but I’ve read the Bible a few fair times, especially the Hebrew Scriptures parts because G-d knows (besides all the “begettings”) it’s a thousand times more interesting than the total bore that makes up the Christian part.

I’m here with maybe a stupid kind of question, but I’m trying to get an idea of a timeline.

Let’s assume, just for this post, that the Scriptures are a book and everyone in them are characters, just so we don’t have to worry about historical accuracy and such. It’s my understanding that the religion that was Judaism kind of started itself with Abraham (né Abram) and the angel stopping him from sacrificing Isaac. Abraham was going to do this because the voice of God told him to. Correct? Then came Jacob, then came the 12 sons, then eventually came Moses, then came other stuff. Got it.

My question is, pre-Moses, what rituals were “Jews” following and how did they know about the Lord aka YHWH? He didn’t really identify himself before Moses, I thought? In general, I ask: how and why did they identify as Jews?

They knew I Am Who Am existed and was the #1 deity around — but I don’t remember how they knew this. Was it just Noah telling his sons, who told their children, and so on, or something? But then everyone would have been Jewish, so that can’t be it. Did they have any texts by then? Prophets I’m forgetting?

I know they were already circumcising because that’s how the women who discovered bb Moses knew he was Jewish. Where had this rite been decreed? Was it all just the voice of G-d speaking through prophets and other random guys? (Because lbr, they were all guys.)

Basically, there is a blank in my memory about how Judaism already existed before Moses got all the juicy deets. Please help the helpless. 🙁

FUN BONUS FACT(??): I’m actually 1/4th Jewish, ethnically speaking. By most Jewish law my father would just straight-up… be a Jew, because his mom was the Jewessest Jewess to ever Jewess out of Eastern Europe. We are talking Jewish Roma from Romania here.

Then how with the Catholic??

Well, once her family reached Murrica (by which I mean New York, ofc), she was orphaned and ended up raised by nuns. Ain’t that always the way.