Sarah Birnbach
Sarah Birnbach spent thirty-five years as a human resources consultant helping organizations to achieve peak performance and was a sought-after speaker at conferences across multiple industries. As an LCSW, she provided therapy in a juvenile and domestic relations court to families and adolescents. Her experiences equipped her to become a leading coach for executives who want to excel and realize their deepest visions. She has authored numerous articles and is one of the featured leadership experts in the book Leadership: Helping Others to Succeed.
Her decades-long love of journaling led her to become one of the country’s first certified journal therapists and a certified instructor of the Journal to the Self ® program, designations offered by the Center for Journal Therapy.
In her encore career as a writer and author, Sarah is a six-time award winner of the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition and a two-time award winner of Bethesda Magazine’s annual essay contest, and her articles have appeared in Talking Writing, Bookwoman, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance Journal, and the Michigan Jewish History Journal.
Sarah recently retraced her father’s footsteps on the frontlines in Germany in World War II and made a presentation to the mayor of Krefeld, Germany, where Allied forces reclaimed the town from the Germans. She is currently building the insights from her travels into her next book, In My Father’s Footsteps.
She lives outside Washington, D.C., with her husband. Her passions include dancing, reading, traveling, and being an active grandma to her seven grandchildren.
A Daughter’s Kaddish
My Year of Grief, Devotion, and Healing
A Daughter’s Kaddish recounts Sarah Birnbach’s year-long odyssey to persevere through an unfamiliar world of Jewish prayer and chart a course without a road map. A novice worshipper and single working mother, Sarah encountered many obstacles—including vehement objections to her recitation of the Mourner’s Kaddish because of her gender, her own daughter’s near-fatal car accident, an incident that tore her synagogue apart, and her mother’s hostility and dismissiveness.
