Sarah Hurwitz calls her first book, “ Here All Along,” a “love letter” to Jewish tradition. Describing a journey begun when she worked as a speechwriter at the White House— first for President Barack Obama and later for First Lady Michele Obama — the book was a celebration of her rediscovering Judaism as a thirty-something who grew up with what she describes as a “thin” Jewish identity.

But if that book was sunny, her new book explores the shadows and storm clouds of Jewish belonging. “ As a Jew: Reclaiming Our Story from Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us ,” confronts the challenges of being Jewish at a time of rising antisemitism, a polarizing debate over Israel, and pressures and temptations that keep many Jews from appreciating a tradition that belongs to

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