Mourning Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Jewish Perspective

September 25, 2020Rabbi Rick Jacobs
Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images - via The New York Daily News

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Rosh HaShanah has triggered a tidal wave of grief. That she left us at the very start of the new year has brought to mind the Jewish belief that righteous souls die on the Sabbath or Jewish holy days. Yes, the Jewish community feels this loss intensely, but the grief extends well beyond us, piercing the very heart of our nation. In the Talmud, we learn that “when a sage, dies all are [her] kin.”

In this spirit, RBG may be embraced as one America’s modern sages. Who could have imagined when Ginsburg was born 87 years ago in Brooklyn, that she would one day be the first Jewish woman to sit on the highest court in the land, and to be the first woman and first Jew to lie in state in the rotunda of Capitol Building — an honor reserved for 33 men before her? Even in death, RBG has smashed another glass ceiling.

Read more from Rabbi Rick Jacobs in The New York Daily News.
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About the Author

Rabbi Rick Jacobs
Rabbi Rick Jacobs

Rabbi Rick Jacobs (he/him) is the president of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), the largest Jewish movement in North America, with almost 850 congregations and nearly 1.5 million members. An innovative thought leader, dynamic visionary, and representative of progressive Judaism, he spent 20 years as the spiritual leader of Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, NY. Deeply dedicated to global social justice issues, he has led disaster response efforts in Haiti and Darfur.

Learn more about Rabbi Rick Jacobs.
 

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