On this Rosh Hashanah, a day when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Jews across the world celebrate what they hope will be a sweet New Year, we collectively look to the future with the gut-wrenching pain of catastrophic loss.
Like civil rights icons before her, Justice Ginsburg used her brilliance to transform a historically oppressive institution into one that could lift burdens and stand alongside the downtrodden. Until her dying breath, she dedicated herself to the fight for justice and stood her ground against sinister forces.
We are grateful for her tenacious spirit.
We are all better for it.
Her legacy as an advocate for the ideals of the American project is magnificent. And while many of us see her as one of the last true warriors, to her family she was a beloved mother and grandmother. In our angst and fear, let us not forget about those closest to her -- those who feel this new absence even more acutely.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked many times to reflect on her legacy. In 2015, she said she wanted to be remembered as “someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability, and to help repair tears in her society.”
For Justice Ginsburg, one definitive tear was this nation’s history of vote suppression. Carrying on Justice Ginsburg's legacy and the legacies of all those who sought to repair our world is something we must do on a daily basis by choosing to continue the fight for justice, equality, and dignity for all.
In a year defined by unfathomable tragedy, Justice Ginsburg’s death feels like a decisive blow. But in death, like in life, Justice Ginsburg can serve as a lodestar in what it means to be unwavering in a commitment to our ideals.
May her memory be a blessing.