Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Becoming the Messiah

Ezra Glinter

$39.95

Hardback

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English

Yale University
03 April 2025

Biography; Biography: religious & spiritual; Judaism

Series: Jewish Lives

The life and thought of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, one of the most influential—and controversial—rabbis in modern Judaism

""Accessible, informed, and balanced. . . . The author manages to tread on fragile ground with aplomb. . . . An exceptional tool for understanding.""—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, one of the world's best-known Hasidic groups, is driven by the belief that we are on the verge of the messianic age. The man most recognized for the movement's success is the seventh and last Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), believed by many of his followers to be the Messiah.

While hope of redemption has sustained the Jewish people through exile and persecution, it has also upended Jewish society with its apocalyptic and anarchic tendencies. So it is not surprising that Schneerson's messianic fervor made him one of the most controversial rabbinic leaders of the twentieth century. How did he go from being an ordinary rabbi's son in the Russian Empire to achieving status as a mystical sage? How did he revitalize a centuries-old Hasidic movement, construct an outreach empire of unprecedented scope, and earn the admiration and condemnation of political, communal, and religious leaders in America and abroad?

Ezra Glinter's deeply researched account is the first biography of Schneerson to combine a nonpartisan view of his life, work, and impact with an insider's understanding of the ideology that drove him and that continues to inspire the Chabad-Lubavitch movement today.

By: Ezra Glinter
Imprint: Yale University
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 146mm,
ISBN: 9780300222623
ISBN 10: 0300222629
Series: Jewish Lives
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 03 April 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Undergraduate , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Ezra Glinter is the senior staff writer and editor at the Yiddish Book Center. He is the editor of Have I Got a Story for You, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Reviews for Menachem Mendel Schneerson: Becoming the Messiah

“In his account of the life and career of one of the most influential Jews of the twentieth century, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Ezra Glinter strikes an exquisite balance between appreciating Schneerson’s profound impact on the Jewish world and recognizing his human fallibility.”—Daniel Matt, author of Becoming Elijah “A concise and insightful account of the most consequential figure in postwar Jewish life.”—Rabbi David Wolpe, author of David: The Divided Heart