Who I Look Up To: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

My parents were prosecutors. Growing up, I learned about law & order not from TV, but from conversations at the dinner table over current cases on their respective dockets. For years, my dad carried in his pocket a picture of one of the victims he represented as a reminder of what was at stake each time he stepped into the courtroom. It was ingrained into my head at a very young age that practicing law was never, ever about winning. Whenever an attorney stepped into a courtroom, it was always, always in pursuit of justice. 

Learning the news about the passing of The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg left me heartbroken and speechless. Justice Ginsburg is, was, and will always be an icon. She was a champion for women’s rights. She was a survivor, having battled cancer five times over the course of her life. 

The first  female tenured professor at Columbia Law, founder of the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU, Justice Ginsburg was a true champion for gender equality. She highlighted the inequalities in the laws against women by representing men seeking equal protections under the Constitution. As we all know, her hard work paid off. In 1980 President Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals. After being nominated by President Clinton and approved by the Senate, on August 10, 1993, R.B.G. was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court- the second female and first Jewish female justice to serve. 

I could go on and on about her accomplishments on the bench, but everyone knows them. To me, what makes R.B.G. so inspiring was that she worked day and night as a lawyer, wife and mother. She took notes for her husband when he was sick while taking care of her young daughter and attending classes herself.  I witnessed my parents sacrifice nights of sleep, weekends, and family vacations for their vocation. Yet, without fail, they would always be there for me and my brother when needed. When you are a soldier for justice, the work doesn’t stop once court is adjourned, and neither did she. 

In her chambers there was artistic rendering from the book of Deuteronomy: צדק, צדק תרדוף (Zedek, zedek, tirdof). In English, “Justice, justice shall you pursue”. Thank you R.B.G. for being one of the fiercest warriors for justice the country world has had the privilege of knowing.

Baruch dayan emet, Blessed is the one true Judge.