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 accident, an incident that tore her synagogue apart, and her mother’s dismissiveness.

Sarah incorporates these religious and spiritual practices into her already hectic 21st-century life while struggling with the heavy emotional distress of grief. As she travels the country for work, Sarah must find a synagogue where she can pray in each city and town she visits, a challenge that brings many surprises—and upsets. Throughout her year of devotion, Sarah takes comfort in the loving memories of her childhood while at the same time grappling with some very painful ones—ultimately discovering how the path of faith and grief can lead to true healing.

A Daughter’s Kaddish is a poignant, touching, and memorable book that you will struggle to forget. A Daughter’s Kaddish is written by author Sarah Birnbach and Birnbach throughout A Daughter’s Kaddish will take her readers through her personal journey with grief and religion and all that she experienced along the way. Despite A Daughter’s Kaddish being a book of a hard-hitting nature, it is also an inspirational book that will have a lasting impact on readers.

A Daughter’s Kaddish is a powerful and unforgettable memoir unlike any I have read before. In A Daughter’s Kaddish, the author and narrator of her story, Sarah Birnbach, shares her journey through Jewish prayer and tradition and all the obstacles but also triumphs she faced along the way.

Sarah Birnbach throughout A Daughter’s Kaddish, shares her journey to honor her late father which included reciting the Mourner’s Kaddish, twice a day in a synagogue for eleven months. A Jewish mourning ritual that is historically reserved for sons and despite her father’s request for her to hire a male to do this, she decides to do it herself to honor her father but with this comes great challenges.

Battling with grief, while being a hard-working singer mother, Sarah had to face many obstacles because of her gender which made sticking to the Jewish mourning ritual difficult – but still, she persevered. In A Daughter’s Kaddish, Sarah shares all that she experienced along the way and details the many hardships she faced and the result is a powerful and inspiring journey that will inspire you to overcome your own hardships and can be especially inspiring to Jewish women too and what follows is a stellar read that shouldn’t be missed.

The profoundness in A Daughter’s Kaddish is sensational, and many readers will feel a host of different emotions while reading this book. Sarah Birnbach effortlessly inspires thoughts and feelings in her readers as well as compels them to read from beginning to end. I found myself reading A Daughter’s Kaddish at an alarming rate because it was so moving as well as absorbing; Birnbach’s incredible literature will have you turning the pages frantically, and I adored how she was able to do this.

Sarah Birnbach is a remarkable person for two reasons; the first is because she has written this book to share her story and to inspire/help others, but she also is because she is an exceptionally talented author! Birnbach’s impeccable writing is a joy to read and flows beautifully throughout so that the reader will feel compelled to read non-stop. Never is the text throughout this book confusing or hard to read. Instead, it is organized perfectly and will perfectly inform you of all you need to know.

To conclude my thoughts on this poignant book A Daughter’s Kaddish, I would say A Daughter’s Kaddish is an insightful, informative, and eye-opening book and I would say everybody should read it. A Daughter’s Kaddish gets five stars from me! Be sure to have a read of the preview below book lovers, you won’t regret it!