Ellen Cassedy

“Terrific... I haven't talked to anyone who wasn't impressed, engrossed, fascinated ... the best I've heard in 5-plus years of helping to organize these things. [Ms. Cassedy] took a complex, delicate subject and crafted it in a way that was not only fair and balanced, but also heymish and thoroughly engaging. A major-league talk.”
--Andy Cassel, Kol Ami Congregation, Melrose, PA


“A splendid introduction to our community about how history stays with us.”
– Dr. Saulius Suziedelis, Director, 28th Annual Conference on the Holocaust, Millersville University


“Quite incredible presentation. What I especially loved is how well you combine what took place during the Holocaust with the years since through your experience.”
– Mary Johnson, Facing History and Ourselves


“...substantive, eloquently presented…”
– Charles Obrecht, Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies, Baltimore, MD


“Combining erudition, a love of Yiddishkeit and a journalist's eye for detail and nuance, Ellen Cassedy gave our congregation a a gripping tale – professional, engaging, very thought-provoking, and eminently worth hearing.”
--Rabbi Elias Lieberman,
Falmouth Jewish Congregation, E. Falmouth, MA


"Outstanding...beautifully highlighted with photographs and music. Now you've got me investigating where my grandparents came from."
-- Rebecca B. Holmes, Am HaYam, Orleans, MA

To book Ellen Cassedy as a speaker: cassblum@aol.com

"After Heartbreak: Healing Lessons from the Land of Our Roots"

From the place where Jewish culture once flowered comes a heartening account of how to bind up old wounds and build a better world.

Ellen Cassedy is a Washington, D.C.-based writer for The Forward, Hadassah, and other Jewish publications. She went to the old Jewish heartland looking for answers about her own family's past, but discovered a larger story: how Jews and gentiles today are reaching across disparate heritages and finding ways in which all of us can seek to prevent future genocides.

Cassedy's talk provides an intimate encounter with Yiddish language and culture, an exploration of how a contemporary European society is striving for cross-cultural understanding, and a personal wrestling with the moral questions that arise out of her own Jewish family history. How do we judge the bystanders, collaborators, rescuers – and ourselves?

To book Ellen Cassedy as a speaker: cassblum@aol.com

Please click "Biography" on the toolbar to learn more about how Ellen Cassedy connects the stories of ordinary people with social issues.