Inspired by history and a trove of love letters, The Rabbi’s Suitcase, by Robert Kehlmann, recounts how, in the early 1880s, a battered steamship, overcrowded with Orthodox Jewish travelers makes a treacherous journey from Lithuania to Jerusalem. On board, a 12-year-old mystic named Yosef  is entranced with wild-haired Chana. Their story is told against a backdrop of Ottoman rule, the privations of WWI, and British Mandate uprisings.

The Book Circle meets monthly to discuss books with Jewish content by Jewish authors. This month’s meeting will be held on Thursday, Dec. 18, at 3:30 p.m., on Zoom.