Kabbalist in Montreal

Ira Robinson is Chair in Quebec and Canadian Jewish Studies in the Department of Religions and Cultures at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, where has taught since 1979. He has written, edited, and translated seventeen books, including Cyrus Adler: Selected Letters, which won the Kenneth Smilen Award for Judaica non-fiction; Renewing Our Days: Montreal Jews in the Twentieth Century, which won a Toronto Jewish Book Award; Moses Cordovero's Introduction to Kabbala: An Annotated Translation of His Or Ne'erav; Rabbis and Their Community: Studies in the Eastern European Orthodox Rabbinate in Montreal, 1896-1930, which won a J.I. Segal Prize; A History of Antisemitism in Canada;  History, Memory, and Jewish Identity, and, most recently, Les Juifs Hassidiques de Montréal (2019). He is president of the Canadian Society for Jewish Studies, and past president of the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies and the Jewish Public Library of Montreal. He is the 2013 winner of the Louis Rosenberg Canadian Jewish Studies Distinguished Service Award of the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies.

• Table of ContentsAbbreviationsPreface 1. Introduction: Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg and the Paradigms of Jewish Modernity2. On a Spiderweb Foundation: Yudel Rosenberg’s Life in Small-Town Poland (1859–1889)3. A Rabbi and Rebbe in Urban Poland (1890–1913)4. “Allright! It's America!”: A Rabbi in Toronto (1913–1918)5. “The Rabbis Are for the Dollar”: Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg and the Kosher Meat Wars of Montreal (1919–1935)6. “Better to Be in Gehinnom”: Yudel Rosenberg’s Halakhic Voice7. A “Folk Author”: Yudel Rosenberg as Storyteller8. “Almost Alone”: Yudel Rosenberg as Preacher9. Magic, Science, and Healing10. “Those Who Understand Kabbala Are Extremely Rare in OIr Generation”: Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg as Kabbalist11. What Is Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg’s Legacy? A Chronological Bibliography of the Writings of Rabbi Yehuda Yudel RosenbergGeneral BibliographyIndex