topic:"Rabbis" found 1 record - The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network

History / Biographical: Yudel Rosenberg was born in Poland in the town of Skaryszew, near Radom. He received a traditional Hasidic education in both rabbinic literature and Kabbalah. He was also exposed to secular learning both through the Hebrew works of the nineteenth century modernist movement known as the "Haskalah" Enlightenment, and through his mastery of the Russian language which he studied in order to obtain governmental permission to function as a rabbi. It is noteworthy that, unlike many Eastern European Jews with a similar background who were exposed to secular thought, Rosenberg remained loyal to the Orthodox tradition. Rosenberg received rabbinic ordination, and after a couple of failed attempts at business, functioned as a rabbi in the town of Tarlau and in the cities of Lublin, Warsaw and Lodz. He emigrated to Canada in 1913, at the invitation of a congregation of Polish Jews in Toronto. In 1919, he moved to Montreal, where he served as rabbi until his death. During the last thirty years of his life, Rosenberg wrote prolifically, in both Hebrew and Yiddish, on a wide variety of subjects. For a scholarly audience, he wrote a supercommentary on the talmudic tractate, Nedarim. He wrote respopnsa to legal questions, a volume of homilies on the Pentateuch, and a short-lived Rabbinic journal. He also wrote and edited a number of liturgical and Halachic works meant to be read by a popular audience. Notably, he wrote a series of stories concerning Rabbi Judah Loewe of Prague, most prominent of which was his account of Rabbi Loewe and the Golem. Rosenberg's major literary project, in which he was engaged for some 25 years, was a translation and reworking of the classic work of Jewish mysticism, the Zohar. He reedited the work to form a true commentary on the Bible and translated it from an often obscure Aramaic to a clear and simple Hebrew. He also added his own commentary. Within the Canadian Jewish community, Rosenberg elicited both respect and controversy. He had considerable influence in Orthodox circles in the two major centres of Jewish population in Canada: Toronto and Montreal. His reputation spread throughout the Jewish world. In particular, his influence was felt in the Canadian Jewish community in the issue of kashrut, the regulation of the Jewish dietary laws. His religious outlook, as gleaned from his writings, was quite pessimistic. In this, he was similar to many of his contemporary Orthodox rabbinical colleagues, though he was, perhaps, more articulate than most. It would be wrong, however, to assume that Rosenberg felt that the cause was by any means lost. In fact, he believed that he possessed the key to the salvation of Orthodox Judaism and its reconciliation with the modern world. This key was Kabbalah.

Language: Hebrew

Custodial History: Donated to the Jewish Public Library Archives by Barry Rosenberg.

Accession No.: 18-018

Name Access: Rosenberg, Rabbi Yudel

Subjects: Rabbis -- Canada.; Rabbis -- Poland.; Kabbala

Archival / Genealogical: Archival Descriptions

Repository: Jewish Public Library Archives