Sarah Hurwitz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1980or1981(age 44–45) |
| Alma mater | Harvard University Harvard Law School |
| Occupation | Speechwriter |
| Website | sarahhurwitz |
Sarah Hurwitz (born 1980or1981 [1] ) is an American speechwriter. A senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama in 2009 and 2010, and head speechwriter for Michelle Obama from 2010 to 2017, [2] [3] she was appointed to serve on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council by Barack Obama shortly before he left the White House. [4]
Hurwitz is from Wayland, Massachusetts. She is Jewish. She attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School, and began her career as an intern in Al Gore's speechwriting office in 1998. [5] Hurwitz identifies as a liberal Zionist. [1]
She was chief speechwriter for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign and deputy chief speechwriter for the presidential campaigns of Senator John Kerry and General Wesley Clark. [6]
She was offered a job as a senior speechwriter for then-Senator Barack Obama in his presidential campaign days after Clinton conceded. Her first assignment for Michelle Obama was to work with her on her address to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. [3] She also wrote her speeches at the 2012 and 2016 Democratic National Conventions. [7] After a couple of years as a senior speechwriter for President Obama, Hurwitz became chief speechwriter for Michelle Obama and also worked on policy issues affecting young women and girls as a senior advisor to the White House Council on Women and Girls. [8]
The Forward included Hurwitz in their Forward 50 list as one of 2016's fifty most influential Jewish-Americans. [9] She served as a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University in 2017. [8]
Hurwitz's book, Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life -- in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There), about her rediscovery of Judaism, was published by Spiegel & Grau on September 3, 2019. [10] [11] Kirkus Reviews called it "A solid guide to Judaism for reluctant believers." [10]
In 2025, her second book, As a Jew, was published by HarperCollinsOne. It debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list on September 25, 2025. [12] [13] In the book, she argues that Holocaust education fails if it does not show the historical scope of antisemitism. [14] It includes a chapter that aims to counter the characterization of Zionism as colonialist and racist, and states that Israel is not without "serious flaws". [1]
On November 16, 2025, Hurwitz was among three panelists at the plenary session of the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington. [14] [15] During the panel, Hurwitz said:
"So you have TikTok just smashing our young people's brains all day long with video of carnage in Gaza. And this is why so many of us can't have a sane conversation with younger Jews because anything that we try to say to them, they are hearing it through this wall of carnage. So I want to give data and information and facts and arguments and they are just seeing in their minds carnage and I sound obscene... Holocaust education is absolutely essential. But I think it may be confusing some of our young people about antisemitism, because they learn about big, strong Nazis hurting weak, emaciated Jews, and they think, 'Oh, antisemitism is like anti-black racism, right? Powerful white people against powerless black people.' So when on TikTok, all day long, they see powerful Israelis hurting weak, skinny Palestinians, it's not surprising that they think, 'Oh, I know the lesson of the Holocaust is you fight Israel. You fight the big, powerful people hurting the weak people." [16] [17] [14]
Hurwitz's remarks on the panel drew criticism on social media. [17] [14] [18] [19] Jenin Younes, legal director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, accused Hurwitz of using the Holocaust to silence criticism of Israel's actions in the Gaza war. [14] Writing in his newsletter Forever Wars, journalist Spencer Ackerman said that Hurwitz should resolve the disconnect by reconsidering her views about Israel instead of Holocaust education. Ackerman further critiqued her characterization of the "carnage in Gaza" as a "wall" that prevents engagement with younger Jews. [16]
Your book includes a chapter on Israel that aims to counter the accusations that Zionism is colonialist and racist. But you also include criticism of Israel, saying the country is not without its "serious flaws." How do you navigate the lonely place of being a liberal Zionist today, which I often define as being too Zionist for the liberals and too liberal for many Zionists?
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