As Rosh Hashanah approaches - a time of reflection, renewal, and returning to our deepest selves - I can’t think of a better moment to listen to (and read) Sarah Hurwitz. Best known as a White House speechwriter, Sarah has turned her extraordinary gift with words inward, asking essential questions about how we have constructed our Jewish identities in her new book, As A Jew. Together we explore everything from why Jewish law insists on the tiniest ethical details to why “I don’t know” can be a profound prayer, and how the health of the Jewish ‘body’ depends on honoring all its parts. It’s a conversation about seeing one another more clearly, exactly the kind of soul work the High Holidays call us to do.
At thirty-six, Sarah Hurwitz was a typical lapsed Jew. On a whim, she attended an introduction to Judaism class that sparked a journey of discovery that transformed her life.
Years later, as Hurwitz wrestled with what it means to be Jewish at a time of rising antisemitism, she wondered: Where had the Judaism she discovered as an adult been all her life? And why had her Jewish identity consisted of a series of caveats and apologies: I’m Jewish, but not that Jewish . . . I’m just a cultural Jew . . . a little different, but not in a way that would make anyone uncomfortable.
Seeking answers, she discovered how hateful myths about Jewish power, depravity, and conspiracy have worn a neural groove deep into the world’s psyche, shaping not just how others think about Jews, but how Jews think about themselves. She soon realized that the Jewish identity she’d thought was freely chosen was actually the result of thousands of years of antisemitism and two centuries of Jews erasing parts of themselves and their tradition in the hope of being accepted and safe.
In As a Jew, Hurwitz documents her quest to take back her Jewish identity, how she stripped away the layers of antisemitic lies that made her recoil from her own birthright and unearthed the treasures of Jewish tradition.
Sarah Hurwitz served as a White House speechwriter from 2009 to 2017, first as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama and then as head speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama. Her first book, Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life – in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There) was a finalist for two National Jewish Book Awards and for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Her second book, As A Jew: Reclaiming Our Story From Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try To Erase Us, won the Natan Notable Book Award. Sarah has been profiled in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The Guardian; interviewed on The Today Show, Morning Joe, and NPR; and named by The Forward as one of 50 Jews who impacted American life in 2016 and 2019.
Sarah is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and was a 2017 Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard.
Sarah Hurwitz’s Five Books:
1. A Code of Jewish Ethics by Joseph Telushkin
2. As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg
3. Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon
4. The Sirens' Call by Chris Hayes
5. As a Jew: Reclaiming Our Story from Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us by Sarah Hurwitz
Other Books & Articles Mentioned:
- Jewish Literacy by Joseph Telushkin
- “College-Age Jews Are Heading South” by Rose Horowitch (The Atlantic)
- Judaism is About Love, by Shai Held
Other Episodes with Deep Cuts on Jewish Peoplehood:
- Yehuda Kurtzer on Grappling with History and Memory
- Rabbi Sharon Brous on Finding her Place in the Jewish Community
- Dara Horn on Being the Lorax at Her Seder Table
If you loved this interview with Sarah Hurwitz, you can hear more from her on a recent episode of Identity/Crisis with host Yehuda Kurtzer, who was a guest on our podcast last December – Yehuda and Sarah were shaped by one of the same books, check out both episodes to find out which one…