Michelle Obama’s speechwriter finds an unexpected Jewish path

Published: 13 March 2020

Last updated: 5 March 2024

When White House staffer Sarah Hurwitz took a class in Judaism she didn't expect it to lead anywhere. But nine years later she's written a book about her passion for Jewish learning

FOLLOWING A BREAK-UP, not many people’s response would be to sign up to an Introduction to Judaism class. But in 2011, at the age of 36, Sarah Hurwitz had ended a relationship and found herself with some spare time to fill and that is precisely what she did.

Hurwitz, who spent six years as head speechwriter for First Lady, Michelle Obama, began the course at the Washington, DC Jewish Community Centre and what she discovered totally floored her.

“The whole sensibility of Judaism spoke to me — its intellectual rigor, its creativity and humanity, its emphasis on questioning and debate,” she writes in her book, Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life - in Judaism.

This was not the uninspired, rote Judaism of her childhood, which she had chosen to detach from after her batmitzvah, but “something relevant, endlessly fascinating, and alive.”

The experience of that first class became a catalyst for further exploration: additional classes, Jewish meditation retreats, lectures, one-to-one study sessions with rabbis - of all denominations - and reading hundreds of books about Judaism.

FULL STORY Michelle Obama’s speechwriter finds her Jewish path (Jewish Chronicle)

Photo: Sarah Hurwitz with her boss, Michelle Obama