Sarah Hurwitz is a wizard with words. As a topspeechwriter for some of the most prominent political players of our era —including former President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Sen.Hillary Clinton — Hurwitz understands the importance of strong and evocativestorytelling.
“Words have tremendous power to move and inspirepeople and to help them summon courage, compassion and hope, even in difficultand frightening times,” said Hurwitz. “Unfortunately, words can also be used tostir up anger, fear, resentment and bigotry.”
Hurwitz will be the keynote speaker at the annual Rabbi Morris D. and Rebbetzin Esther Rosenblatt Memorial Lecture this Sunday morning, Sept. 8, at Kneseth Israel Synagogue in Annapolis.
(Hurwitz will also speak at a private local residence on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. as part of the 2019-2020 season of the Baltimore Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Conversations Program. For information, visit brandeis.edu/hbi/index.html. In addition, she will speak on Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. at the third annual “Women, Wine & Wisdom” event at The Soul Center at Pikesville’s Beth El Synagogue.)
In June, Jmore spoke to Hurwitz shortly before her appearance at Jewish Professional Women’s annual “LeadHERship Event,” hosted by The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore. JPW provides professional networking, personal growth and community engagement opportunities for career-minded women.
“Listen to your inner voice,” Hurwitz told the groupof approximately 170 women in attendance. “Listen to what is true to you, evenif others don’t understand it. And when it comes to writing, make sure you showinstead of tell. Most people don’t do that.”
A graduate of Harvard University and Harvard LawSchool, Hurwitz, 38, began her White House career in 1998 as a college internin Vice President Al Gore’s speechwriting office.
After graduation, she worked as a speechwritingresearch assistant for former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.Hurwitz subsequently worked on a handful of national campaigns, includingHillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential bids.
“Being a speechwriter is mainly about channeling thevoice of the person you write for,” said Hurwitz, a native of Wayland, Mass.“In an ideal speechwriting relationship, you’re not scripting the person.Rather, you’re working with them to hone their own language, ideas and stories.
“Empathy is a critical characteristic of a goodspeechwriter,” she said. “You need to be moved by the struggles, successes andaspirations of the American people in order to tell their stories in a vivid,moving and memorable way.”
Hurwitz describes working in the Obama White House as“absolutely wonderful. The Obama White House was an incredibly diverse place,and the staff was urged to embrace and celebrate who they are.
“I have such warm memories of attending the White HouseChanukah parties,” she said. “I’ll never forget the year that everyonespontaneously broke into [the Chanukah song] ‘Maoz Tzur,’ and Ithought to myself how my grandparents never couldhave imagined anything like this.”
During her time with the administration, Hurwitzhelped craft some of Mrs. Obama’s most memorable speeches, including her 2016Democratic National Convention address featuring the now-famous slogan, “Whenthey go low, we go high.”
“Mrs. Obama came up with that line — all I did wastype it into the speech,” said Hurwitz. “Michelle Obama knows who she is andshe always knows what she wants to say. The process for that speech was similarto the process of other speeches I worked on with her. It would always startwith me asking her, ‘What do you want to say?’ and she would then dictate pagesof ideas, language, stories and themes for the speech. I would then shape allthe language she dictated to me into a draft and she would edit it, with oftenmultiple rounds of editing.”
Although she no longer works in the White House,Hurwitz continues to be a storyteller. About five years ago, Hurwitz – who grewup “with minimal Jewish education” — took an introduction to Judaism class thatchanged her life.
Hurwitz wrote a book about her circuitous Jewishjourney titled, “Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a DeeperConnection to Life — in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There).” Thebook, published by Spiegel & Grau, is set to be released in September.
“I was blown away by what I found [in Judaism],” shesaid. “There is a high ethical bar and helpful guidance [in Judaism] about howto be a good person, numerous practices to foster spiritual connection and allkinds of beautiful, meaningful rituals. I couldn’t believe what I had beenmissing.”
At the LeadHerShip Event, Hurwitz advised her audienceof women, “Carve out space for the thing you love and that lights your fire.Judaism isn’t just about me it’s about connecting to a group of people who arein some ways my family.”
Kneseth Israel is located at 1125 Spa Rd. in Annapolis. For information about the Rosenblatt Memorial Lecture, visit knesethisrael.org or call 410-263-2924.
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