Sarah Birnbach
Sarah Birnbach began her encore career as a nonfiction writer after successful careers as a human resources management consultant and family therapist in a juvenile court. She was a sought-after motivational speaker at numerous industry conferences and has delivered more than five hundred presentations and workshops.
Sarah’s lifelong journaling practice has informed her writing, for which she has won multiple awards. Her articles have appeared in Talking Writing, Bookwoman, JOFA Journal (Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance), the Michigan Jewish History Journal, Intima, and Pen in Hand.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from George Washington University, an MBA from American University, and an MSW from the University of Maryland.
Sarah lives with her husband outside Washington, DC, where she enjoys frequenting local bookstores, traveling, and active grandparenting.
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. To honor her beloved father, Sarah commits to reciting the Mourner’s Kaddish twice a day in synagogue for eleven months—a Jewish mourning ritual that was historically reserved for sons—despite her father’s initial request that she hire someone male to do so. A novice worshipper and single working mother, Sarah encountered many obstacles—including gender-based objections to her prayer practice, her own daughter’s near-fatal car accident, an incident that tore her synagogue apart, and her mother’s dismissiveness.
Press, Awards, and More
A Woman Breaks with Jewish Tradition to Honor Her Late Father in This Moving Memoir of Faith, Grief, and Transformation
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 roadmap—releasing September 27, 2022, just in time for the Jewish holiday season.
