Guardian corrects RBG obit, now noting her strong Jewish identity

A few hours ago, we posted about the Guardian’s obituary for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which, inexplicably, argued that the former US Supreme Court Justice had “abandoned” her Judaism.

Here are the relevant sentences from the Sept. 18th piece:

Ruth was brought up in a Conservative Jewish tradition and learned Hebrew as a child, but abandoned her religion because she was not allowed to join a minyan (a group of men) to mourn her mother’s death when she was 17.

[In 1993, President] Clinton was anxious to make the supreme court more diverse, so Ginsburg’s Jewish religion, which she had given up 46 years earlier, may have counted for more than a lifetime of commitment.

We complained to the Guardian, demonstrating, via a myriad of examples, that RBG (as she was known) maintained a strong Jewish identity throughout her life, and recently learned that our complaint was upheld.

Here are the revised sentences:

Ruth was brought up in a Conservative Jewish tradition and learned Hebrew as a child, but moved away from strict religious observance after she was not allowed to join a minyan (a group of men) to mourn her mother’s death when she was 17. Indignant at that exclusion, she nevertheless remained deeply committed to her Jewish identity.

[In 1993, President] Clinton was anxious to make the supreme court more diverse, so Ginsburg’s Jewish identity may have counted for more than a lifetime of commitment to women’s equality before the law.

The following addendum was added, noting the correction:

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5 Comments

  1. says: Nathan

    The Guardian is basically implying that Ginsburg was a “diversity hire”, as though merely being some random Jew would have sufficed to tick the box for Clinton. Stay classy, Guardian.

  2. says: frank haskell

    What she was a liberal socialist with marginal morality and that was okay but if she’s Jewish she can’t belong to their club? Then what’s the point of being a liberal socialist?

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