Rosenberg, Yehuda Yudel
ROSENBERG, YEHUDA YUDEL
ROSENBERG, YEHUDA YUDEL (1859–1935), Canadian rabbi and author. Rosenberg was born in Skaryszew, Poland, and acquired a thorough rabbinic and ḥasidic education. He also was exposed to maskilic literature and became fluent in Russian, earning an official permit to function as a rabbi in Poland. Having failed in business, he turned to rabbinic positions in Tarlow, Lublin, Warsaw and Lodz, where he attempted to create a ḥasidic following as the Tarler Rebbe (1909–13) before immigrating to North America. He arrived in North America in 1913, settling first in Toronto (1913–18), and then in Montreal (1919–35). In both cities he engaged in often heated disputes with other immigrant Orthodox rabbis over the supervision of kosher meat. In Montreal, he was instrumental in the creation of a united Orthodox rabbinate, and became vice president of the rabbinic council (Va'ad ha-Rabbanim) of Montreal's Jewish Community Council (Va'ad ha-'Ir) (1923–35).
Rosenberg was a prolific author in Hebrew and Yiddish in numerous genres. His rabbinic publications included a supercommentary on Tractate Nedarim, Yaddot Nedarim (1902), and Me'or ha-Hashmal (1924) on the halakhic issues surrounding electricity. He published several volumes of homilies, including Ateret Tiferet (1931), and Peri Yehudah (1935). A volume of responsa remains in page proof. He edited a short-lived rabbinic journal, Kol Torah (1908). He is best known for his re-edition and translation of the Zohar into Hebrew, entitled Zohar Torah (7 vols., 1924–30), and for his stories of the Maharal of Prague (Nifla'ot Maharal im ha-Golem (1909), and Sefer Ḥoshen ha-Mishpat shel ha-Kohen ha-Gadol (1913)), the first of which served to popularize the story of the Maharal and the Golem in the 20th century. In these works, he did not present himself as the author of the tales but rather as an editor of manuscripts emanating from a nonexistent "Royal Library of Metz." He further published tales of biblical heroes (Sefer Eliyahu ha-Navi (1910) and Sefer Divrei ha-Yamim le-Shelomo ha-Melekh (1914)) and of hasidic leaders (Tiferet Mahar'el mi-Shpole (1912); Der Greiditzer (1913?)), and a medical book (Sefer Refa'el ha-Malakh (1911)) which reflected in part his practice of homeopathic medicine.
bibliography:
I. Robinson, in: Canadian Jewish Studies (1993), 41–58; I. Robinson, in: Judaism (1991), 61–78; S. Leiman, in: Tradition (2002), 26–58; E. Yassif (ed.), Ha-Golem mi-Prag (1991), 7–72.
[Ira Robinson (2nd ed.)]