Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Melville House
Published: 2020-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

RUTH BADER GINSBURG IN HER OWN WORDS

INTERVIEW BY JANE EISNER

THE FORWARD

ADAS ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE, WASHINGTON, D.C.

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

JANE EISNER: Thank you all. Thank you to everyone coming here to Adas Israel.

It is such a thrill and a pleasure for me and on behalf of all of my colleagues to participate in such an important event. In the last few weeks, we’ve asked Forward readers to send us their questions for Justice Ginsburg. And the response has been overwhelming. We heard from readers all across the country and from overseas as well. Tonight I will quote from some of these questions in our conversation because they are brilliant and funny and they’re a powerful reflection of how interested Americans truly are in the United States Supreme Court, and especially in this United States Supreme Court justice.

I do want to say at the outset that Justice Ginsburg has asked that we not discuss issues that are before the court or may be before the court.

And of course we’re respecting that. Happily there are so many other topics to talk about. Justice Ginsburg, many readers of ours are interested in your Jewish life and identity and how it shaped your judicial career and your outlook. And as we sit in this beautiful sanctuary this seems like a very good place to start. You grew up in Brooklyn from a family…OK, let’s hear it for Brooklyn. A family that was not devout, but very identified. You have described your mother, your beloved mother, lighting candles on Friday nights.

And I’ve heard how you’ve enjoyed celebrating Passover with your family. You’ve remarked that the four questions was the best part of the Seder. I’m wondering why.

JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG: A child—the youngest child—is asking about this evening, this celebration: “Why is Passover night different from all other nights?” It’s a child asking a question and the rest of the Seder is devoted to answering it. The child’s question.

I think it’s just one of many illustrations of how Jews honor learning and want children to be well-educated.

EISNER: A couple of years ago with Rabbi Holtzblatt you wrote about the heroic and visionary women in the Passover story, and I’m just wondering, did you notice all that when you were a girl? Or is that the kind of thing that emerged later in life for you, this recognition of the role of women in this story?

GINSBURG: Well, Lauren* was the prime mover in this venture. I think growing up I might have known about Miriam and Moses’ mother, but I didn’t know about the midwives Shifra and Puah, and I knew about the Pharaoh’s daughter. But the Passover Seder, the Haggadah, there were no women.

EISNER: That’s true. And so you’ve worked to make a difference in that regard. And I understand that was something that you were aware of as a girl as well. Your limitations. The boys were having bar mitzvahs and girls could not. And your mother had a very strict Orthodox upbringing. And I’m just

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