Yitzhak Buxbaum was an American author and ''

maggid A maggid (), 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 (Judaism), darshan'' (). The title of ''m ...

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

Published work

Most of Buxbaum's books and articles relate to

Hasidism Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a Spirituality, spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most ...

, especially its storytelling tradition, and

Neo-Hasidism Neo-Hasidism, also Neochassidut or Neo-Chassidus, is an approach to Judaism in which aspects of Hasidic Judaism are incorporated into non-Hasidic religious Jewish practice. Over the 20th century, neo-Hasidism was popularized by the works of write ...

. 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

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, 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. Gottesm ...

The Jewish Chronicle ''The Jewish Chronicle'' (''The JC'') is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor () is Daniel Schwammenthal. The newspaper is published every Fri ...

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

Parabola In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is Reflection symmetry, mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. It fits several superficially different Mathematics, mathematical descriptions, which can all be proved to define exactl ...

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 (; January 14, 1925 – October 20, 1994), known as Reb Shlomo to his followers, was an American rabbi and musician nicknamed "the Singing Rabbi". Although his roots lay in traditional Orthodox yeshivot, he branched out to c ...

, Buxbaum established a program to train women and men as maggidim (plural of maggid). Graduates include Shoshana Litman, described as Canada's 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 university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

(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 United States after moving to New York City in 1964.United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. Buxbaum lived in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. 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 male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Jewish American non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews People from Brooklyn 2020 deaths Year of birth missing