A woman breaks with Jewish tradition to honor her late father in this moving memoir of faith, grief, and transformation.

“A thoughtful meditation on sacrifice, memory, gender roles, and of course—grief.”

—A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

“A heartwarming, sometimes heart-wrenching, and always honest story.”

—Rabbi Mindy Avra Portnoy, rabbi emerita, Temple Sinai, Washington, DC, and author of A Tale of Two Seders

“Birnbach’s love letter to her father is a meditation on grief and the power of a spiritual practice to transcend our most painful losses.”

—Michelle Brafman, author of Washing the Dead

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About Sarah

Sarah Birnbach embarked on her encore career as a writer in 2015 after successful careers as a human resource management consultant and a licensed clinical social worker. She is a five-time award winner from the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition, a program of the National League of American Pen Women, and a two-time award winner in Bethesda Magazine’s essay contest. Her stories have been published in numerous magazines and professional journals. An active member of the Women’s National Book Association, she lives in Rockville, Maryland.

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About A Daughter's Kaddish

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. 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 own mother’s hostility and dismissiveness.

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