May Her Memory be a Blessing: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

As the sun set for Rosh Hashanah this past Friday night, Jews in America and across the world learned of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was like a gut punch, resounding across social media. The 87-year-old trailblazing Supreme Court Justice-- the second female Justice-- spent her entire career, her entire life really, fighting for equal rights for women and minorities, fighting so that everyone could have an equal shot. Her death, which plunges the country into a fight over exactly when, and by whom, she will be succeeded, is keenly felt by the Jewish community, who mourns her as a tzaddik, or righteous person. 

Today you’re going to hear from Abigail Pogrebin, writer, friend of the show, and host of Tablet’s Parsha in Progress podcast. In 2005 she published a book called Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish. She has kindly agreed to read the chapter on Ruth Bader Ginsberg. 

You can find Stars of David, and more of Abby’s work, including her latest book -- My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays; One Wondering Jew -- at https://abigailpogrebin.com/

For more RBG on Unorthodox, listen to episode 19, Leading Ladies, in which we interview Irin Carmon about her book, Notorious RBG, which details the Justice’s most recent turn as feminist pop culture icon. https://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/unorthodox/leading-ladies

We’re at work on our annual apology episode, which airs this Thursday, and which focuses on the notion of reconciliation, which, frankly, has never seemed so important.