"This book presents the first full-length study of a vast and complex visual tradition produced, revered, preserved, banned, and destroyed by the Hasidic movement of Chabad. This rich repository of visual artifacts provides the archaeological data for an analysis of how the movement consolidated its influence during a period of political and economic transformation and survived its immigration to America in the wake of the Holocaust. As one of the...

"Laura Esther Wolfson's literary debut draws on years of immersion in the Russian and French languages; struggles to gain a basic understanding of Judaism, its history, and her place in it; and her search for a form to hold the stories that emerge from what she has lived, observed, overheard, and misremembered. In "Proust at Rush Hour," when her lungs begin to collapse and fail, forcing her to give up an exciting and precarious existence as a globetrotting...

"An engaging exploration of the unique history and biology of fasting--an essential component of many traditional health practices, religions, and philosophies, resurging in popularity today--perfect for readers of Breath by James Nestor and Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. We fast all the time, even when we're not conscious of doing so. A fast manifests the idea of holding back, resisting the animal impulse to charge ahead. Its flip side is similarly...

"Carrie Lowstein (Madeline Grey DeFreece) and Hannah Rosen (Rachel Sennott) have been inseparable for as long as they can remember. When their former Hebrew school classmate, Samantha Goldstein, commits suicide, the two girls go to her funeral as well as the "Teen Talk-back" session designed to be an opportunity for them to understand grief through their faith. But, after an innocent kissing exercise turns Carrie's world inside out, the best friends...

"This account of Philip Roth traces the psychological and artistic origins of his creative life. It examines the major events of his career, while identifying a series of personal themes in his writing, from his relationship with Judaism to family, marriage, Eastern Europe and America. It addresses his private challenges from romance and health, to surviving as a writer burdened with success. The book also reflects how living outside the United States,...