Former Michelle Obama scribe Sarah Hurwitz writes book on her journey in Judaism

Michelle Obama speechwriter and onetime PSA World Conference keynoter Sarah Hurwitz has written a book in her own voice. Its title tells a lot: Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality and a Deeper Connection to Life—in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There)­.

For much of her speechwriting career, Hurwitz tells New York Jewish Week, “I was unable to own my Judaism, but unable to disown it either. So, I mainly ignored it. And that worked out just fine for me. After all, I was busy.”

But even in the maw of her White House speechwriting career, Hurwitz “felt something missing in her life. At 36, having recently broken up with a boyfriend and feeling lonely, she decided to take an introduction to Judaism class …. What shocked her was seeing ‘the stale, rote Judaism of my childhood’ transformed into ‘something relevant, endlessly fascinating, and alive,’ she writes.”

And so when she left the White House, she wrote this book about her journey.