As A Jew: Reclaiming Our Story from Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us

• Author: Sarah Hurwitz
• Genre: Nonfiction/Religion & Spirituality 
• Publication Date: September 9. 2025
• Publisher: HarperOne

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperOne for providing me with an audiobook ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An urgent exploration of how antisemitism has shaped Jewish identity and how Jews can reclaim Judaism on their own terms, by the celebrated White House speechwriter and author of the critically acclaimed Here All Along.

I hadn’t heard of Sarah Hurwitz before, but when I saw the full title of this book, I needed to get my hands on it. Fortunately, I got approved for an audiobook copy of this, and it was a deceptively fast read. I am a sucker for nonfiction writers narrating their own books—it gives it a more personal feel in my opinion.

To start with, Hurwitz gives us a little background on her Jewishness, and everyone goes through their own process. Mine happened to be kind of similar to her own, where the cultural aspects of Judaism played a bigger role than the religious or spiritual aspects. I was fortunate to grow up with a father who made sure that we understood why we do the things we do on holidays, while Hurwitz seems a bit less knowledgeable about Judaism in her younger years than I did.

This is remedied through intensive amounts of research and study. I was really impressed with her ability to focus and really take in all of the information she was learning. The book is impeccably researched, even if it is a fairly top-level summary of the subject matter. Although this isn’t a comprehensive book about Judaism, she does a great job of sharing information that she learned with her readers, and touches on some of the most important values that Judaism offers.

I enjoyed her journey towards learning more about who she is, as a person and as a Jew. She offers plenty of information in digestible chapters, so that the book never felt dry, boring, or overwhelming. Seeing Hurwitz move from a ‘cultural Jew’ to learning what it really means to be Jewish was beautiful, and it is a very meaningful book. 

Each chapter is about a different relevant topic within Judaism, and she even delves into talking about Israel. There is a lot of common ground between the author and myself, and reading this gave me the feeling of being seen and understood. She also clears up plenty of misconceptions, and I think the part of the book that was most meaningful to me was when she discusses Dara Horn’s idea of Hanukkah antisemitism and Purim antisemitism. The concept comes from two of our holidays and refers to how antisemitism affects Jews: Purim antisemitism is all about wiping out the Jews of a city in Persia (spoiler alert: we survived) and is most recently embodied when calls to wipe out the state of Israel are shouted and during the Holocaust. At Hanukkah, Jews faced a more insidious type of antisemitism: this holiday comes from the Roman occupation of Israel and manifests by pushing Jews to assimilate and lose their Judaism, and can be seen when we think we’ll be safe if we become more like the dominant, non-Jewish population where we live. 

Overall, this is a fantastic book. The concepts were made easy to understand despite the complexity of the subject matter, and her statements align with what I’ve already learned from primary, reliable sources. I would have liked her to go a bit more in depth about Jewish history, but for an introduction to Judaism and a better understanding of Jewishness this got the job done. I’m very comfortable recommending this book to everyone, and it is a strong start to learn about Judaism and the Jewish people. If this isn’t enough, I can also strongly recommend Noa Tishby’s Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth for a deeper dive into Israeli history that is very factual and informative, while the audiobook version is narrated by Tishby and is a fantastic follow up to this book.

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