As a Jew: Reclaiming Our Story from Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us

An urgent exploration of how antisemitism has shaped Jewish identity and how Jews can reclaim their tradition

At thirty-six, Sarah Hurwitz was a typical lapsed Jew. On a whim, she attended an "Introduction to Judaism" class and was astonished by what she discovered: thousands of years of wisdom from her ancestors about what it means to be human. That class 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 the Judaism she discovered as an adult been all her life. Why hadn’t she seen the beauty and depth of her tradition in those dull synagogue services and Hebrew school classes she’d endured as a kid? Why had her Jewish identity consisted of a series of caveats and apologies?

Seeking answers, she went back through time to discover 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 reclaim 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. With antisemitism raging worldwide, Hurwitz’s account of owning the Jewish story and learning to live as a Jew unapologetically has never been timelier or more necessary.