Yitzhak Buxbaum was an American author and ''

maggid A maggid ( he, מַגִּיד), also spelled as magid, is a traditional Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A chaplain of the more scholarly sort is called a '' darshan'' (). The title of '' ...

'' (preacher/storyteller). He died on 23 December 2020.

Published work

Most of Buxbaum's books and articles relate to

Hasidism Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

, especially its storytelling tradition, and

Neo-Hasidism Neo-Hasidism, Neochassidut, or Neo-Chassidus, is an approach to Judaism in which people learn beliefs and practices of Hasidic Judaism, and incorporate it into their own lives or prayer communities, yet without formally joining a Hasidic group. O ...

. He has authored the following books. *''Jewish Spiritual Practices'' Jason Aronson, 1991 *''Storytelling and Spirituality in Judaism'' Jason Aronson, 1994 *''Real Davvening: Jewish Prayer as a Spiritual Practice and a Form of Meditation for Beginning and Experienced Davveners'' , Jewish Spirit Booklet Series, 1996 *''An Open Heart: The Mystic Path of Loving People'' . Jewish Spirit Booklet Series, 1997 * ''A Tu BeShvat Seder: The Feast of Fruits from the Tree of Life'' Jewish Spirit Booklet Series, 1998 *''The Life and Teachings of Hillel'' 376 pp. Jason Aronson, 2000 According to

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

, the book is held in 168 libraries *''A Person is Like a Tree: A Sourcebook for Tu BeShvat'' Jason Aronson, 2000 *''Storytelling and Spirituality in Judaism'' Jason Aronson, 2001 *''Jewish Tales of Mystic Joy'' Jossey-Bass, 2002 *''Jewish Tales of Holy Women'' Jossey-Bass, 2002 * ''The Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov'' Continuum, 2005 *''Serach at the Seder: A Haggadah Supplement'', illustrations by Shoshannah Brombacher Jewish Spirit, 2012 Reviews of Buxbaum's work have appeared in Jewish publications with a variety of perspectives, including The Algemeiner Journal,

Hadassah Magazine ''Hadassah Magazine'' is an American magazine published by the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America. It covers Israel, the Jewish world, and subjects of interest to American Jewish women. It was established in 1914. Esther G. Gottes ...

The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

, and Tikkun. His books have been reviewed for broader audiences in the journal

Parabola In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. It fits several superficially different mathematical descriptions, which can all be proved to define exactly the same curves. One descript ...

and the website Spirituality and Practice. Manuscripts and drafts of ''The Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov'' are archived at Cornell University Library.

Storytelling

Buxbaum told stories "in Jewish and non-Jewish settings to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences", with a focus on "the spiritual nature of storytelling." He was grouped among "the most active tellers in the Jewish world."

Maggid training program

Building on his ordination as a maggid by

Shlomo Carlebach Shlomo Carlebach ( he, שלמה קרליבך; 14 January 1925 – 20 October 1994), known as Reb Shlomo to his followers, was a rabbi, religious teacher, spiritual leader, composer, and singer dubbed "the singing rabbi" during his lifetime. ...

, Buxbaum established a program to train women and men as maggidim (plural of maggid). Graduates include Shoshana Litman, described as

Canada's Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by total ...

first ordained female Jewish storyteller, and Tamir Zaltsman, who states that he is the first ordained Russian-speaking maggid. Some graduates are themselves training maggidim.

Background and personal life

Buxbaum graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

(class of 1964). He told interviewers that as a young man, he identified as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and felt disconnected from his Jewish roots. But a time of intense soul-searching, and encounters with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, led him to devote his life to Jewish spirituality. In 2007, Buxbaum was one of six spiritual leaders from different faiths who opened the memorial celebration for

Sri Chinmoy Chinmoy Kumar Ghose (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007), better known as Sri Chinmoy, was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the West after moving to New York City in 1964.United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. Buxbaum lived in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He was married to actor and storyteller Carole Forman.

References

External links

Yitzhak Buxbaum website
Article by Yitzhak Buxbaum
Real Davening: Chasidic Answers to the Crisis in Prayer
''The Jewish Review: A Journal of Torah, Judaism, Philosophy, Life and Culture'' 4:3 (March 1991 / Adar 5751)
Articles by Yitzhak Buxbaum at chabad.org

Publisher's website on ''The Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buxbaum, Yitzhak 21st-century American writers Jewish American writers 21st-century American Jews