This book illuminates important issues faced by Orthodox Judaism in the modern era by relating the life and times of Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg (1859â 1935). In  presenting Yudel Rosenbergâ s rabbinic activities, this book aims to show that Jewish Orthodoxy could serve as an agent of modernity no less than its opponents. Yudel Rosenbergâ s considerable literary output will demonstrate that the line between â secularâ and â traditionalâ literature was not always sharp and distinct. Rabbi Rosenbergâ s kabbalistic works will shed light on the revival of kabbala study in the twentieth century. Yudel Rosenbergâ s career in Canada will serve as a counter-example to the often-expressed idea that Hasidism exercised no significant influence on the development of American Judaism at the turn of the twentieth century.