A new Hebrew book by Nahal Elgad Binyamin Shoham, “Becoming a Redeemer” (Har Bracha), delves into teachings of the Rebbes of Ruzhin, emphasizing the deep connection between Hasidism and Zionism. Yehuda Brandes reviews, asking what the message of those Rebbes nearly a century ago might mean for our own contemporary religious identity.

TRADITION’s seasonal roundup of noteworthy new titles in Jewish studies and learning, with offerings on halakha and mental health, peshat and aggada, and definitive new histories of Jewish Provence, the medieval Jewish wine trade, the Soviet dissident movement, and more…