On Being Jewish Now

A USA Today Bestseller for 29 weeks!
Featured in the Washington Post
Inspired a stage adaptation, a global Substack, and 100+ events
"Zibby Owens has done the literary world a great service, collecting important views at a critical moment in history. As she says, this is not a time to lower your voice. Kudos to her and all the authors here for sharing valuable insight, emotion, and perspective on the often misunderstood Jewish experience."
—Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays With Morrie
On October 7th, 2023, Israel was attacked in the largest pogrom since the Holocaust. Jews around the world felt a collective shock and a renewed urgency to speak, gather, and hold one another closer. On Being Jewish Now is an intimate, hopeful, funny, moving, and deeply meaningful collection of essays about what it means to be Jewish in this moment, and the unique culture that brings this group together.
Edited by Zibby Owens, bestselling author, podcaster, bookstore owner, and CEO of Zibby Media, this collection brings together 75 authors, advocates, actors, rabbis, and cultural voices reflecting on Jewish joy, celebration, humor, food, identity, loss, love, family, and the ties that connect Jewish people across generations and geographies. Together, these essays offer a portrait of a community changed by tragedy but still rooted in memory, meaning, and stubborn hope.
For Jewish readers, On Being Jewish Now offers the comfort of recognition and the reminder that you are not alone. For allies, friends, and loved ones, it offers an honest, accessible window into what many Jews have been carrying since October 7th, and why Jewish culture, humor, history, and connection remain so powerful.
All profits will be donated to Artists Against Antisemitism.
Contributors:
Abby Stern
Ali Rosen
Alison Hammer
Alison Rose Greenberg
Alix Strauss
Aliza Licht
Alli Frank
Alyssa Rosenheck
Amy Blumenfeld
Amy Ephron
Amy Klein
Anna Ephron Harari
Annabelle Gurwitch
Barri Leiner Grant
Bess Kalb
Beth Ricanati
Bradley Tusk
Brenda Janowitz
Cara Mentzel
Caroline Leavitt
Corie Adjmi
Courtney Sheinmel
Danny Grossman
Daphne Merkin
Dara Kurtz
Dara Levan
David K. Israel
David Christopher Kaufman
Debbie Reed Fischer
Diana Fersko
Eleanor Reissa
Elizabeth Cohen Hausman
Elizabeth L. Silver
Elyssa Friedland
Emily Tisch Sussman
Harper Kincaid
Heidi Shertok
Ilana Kurshan
Jacqueline Friedland
Jamie Brenner
Jane L. Rosen
Jeanne Blasberg
Jennifer S. Brown
Jenny Mollen
Jeremy Garelick
Jill Zarin
Joanna Rakoff
Jonathan Santlofer
Judy Batalion
Julia DeVillers
Keren Blankfeld
Lihi Lapid
Lisa Barr
Lisa Kogan
Lynda Cohen Loigman
Mark Feuerstein
Nicola Kraus
Noa Yedlin
Rebecca Keren Jablonski
Rachel Barenbaum
Rachel Levy Lesser
Rachelle Unreich
Rebecca Minkoff
Rebecca Raphael
Renee Rosen
Rochelle B. Weinstein
Samantha Ettus
Samantha Greene Woodruff
Sharon Brous
Shirin Yadegar
Stacy Igel
Steve Leder
Talia Carner
Toby Rose
Zibby Owens