Why did Constance love this book?
Sarah Birnbach’s beautiful memoir, A Daughter’s Kaddish, is an inspiring story of deep love and respect—of a daughter for her father.
I’m Christian and opened this book with a basic understanding of Judaism. As the story unfolded, I learned the meaning behind unfamiliar Jewish traditions, like the Kaddish. Birnbach writes of her challenging journey to push the boundaries of her own grief and gender biases to tirelessly honor her father and their faith. She writes from the heart with honesty and warmth, her prose is lyrical, and her descriptions imaginative.
As someone who lost her father prematurely, I’ve always wondered if my dad is looking down at me, nodding, grimacing, smiling, laughing, scowling, cheering. If such is the case with Sarah’s father, he’s beaming with pride. If you’ve loved and lost someone, A Daughter’s Kaddish will warm your heart and uplift your soul with cherished memories.
1 author picked A Daughter's Kaddish as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
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. 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…