Yitzhak Buxbaum was an American author and maggid (preacher/storyteller). He died on 23 December 2020.
Yitzhak Buxbaum was an American author and maggid (preacher/storyteller). He died on 23 December 2020.
Most of Buxbaum's books and articles relate to Hasidism, especially its storytelling tradition, and Neo-Hasidism. He has authored the following books.
Reviews of Buxbaum's work have appeared in Jewish publications with a variety of perspectives, [2] including The Algemeiner Journal, [3] Hadassah Magazine, [4] The Jewish Chronicle, [5] and Tikkun. [6] His books have been reviewed for broader audiences in the journal Parabola [7] and the website Spirituality and Practice. [8] [9]
Manuscripts and drafts of The Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov are archived at Cornell University Library. [10]
Buxbaum told stories "in Jewish and non-Jewish settings to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences", with a focus on "the spiritual nature of storytelling." [11] [12] He was grouped among "the most active tellers in the Jewish world." [13]
Building on his ordination as a maggid by Shlomo Carlebach, [14] Buxbaum established a program to train women and men as maggidim (plural of maggid). [15] [16] Graduates include Shoshana Litman, described as Canada's first ordained female Jewish storyteller, [17] and Tamir Zaltsman, who states that he is the first ordained Russian-speaking maggid. [18] Some graduates are themselves training maggidim. [19]
Buxbaum graduated from Cornell University (class of 1964). [10]
He told interviewers that as a young man, he identified as an atheist 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. [20]
In 2007, Buxbaum was one of six spiritual leaders from different faiths who opened the memorial celebration for Sri Chinmoy at the United Nations. [21]
Buxbaum lived in Brooklyn. He was married to actor and storyteller Carole Forman. [22]
Shneur Zalman of Liadi was a rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism. He wrote many works, and is best known for Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Tanya, and his Siddur Torah Or compiled according to the Nusach Ari.
Dov Ber ben Avraham of Mezeritch, also known as the Maggid of Mezeritch or Mezeritcher Maggid, was a disciple of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the founder of Hasidic Judaism, and was chosen as his successor to lead the early movement. Dov Ber is regarded as the first systematic exponent of the mystical philosophy underlying the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, and through his teaching and leadership, the main architect of the movement. He established his base in Mezhirichi, which moved the centre of Hasidism from Medzhybizh, where he focused his attention on raising a close circle of disciples to spread the movement. After his death the third generation of leadership took their different interpretations and disseminated across appointed regions of Eastern Europe, rapidly spreading Hasidism beyond Ukraine, to Poland, Galicia and Russia.
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. The title of maggid mesharim probably dates from the sixteenth century.
Devekut, debekuth, deveikuth or deveikus is a Jewish concept referring to closeness to God. It may refer to a deep, trance-like meditative state attained during Jewish prayer, Torah study, or when performing the 613 commandments. It is particularly associated with the Jewish mystical tradition.
Yiddish literature encompasses all those belles-lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus for centuries in Eastern Europe, is evident in its literature.
Machnovka is a Hasidic dynasty Chernobyl dynastic group of families.
Hasidic philosophy or Hasidism, alternatively transliterated as Hasidut or Chassidus, consists of the teachings of the Hasidic movement, which are the teachings of the Hasidic rebbes, often in the form of commentary on the Torah and Kabbalah. Hasidism deals with a range of spiritual concepts such as God, the soul, and the Torah, dealing with esoteric matters but often making them understandable, applicable and finding practical expressions.
Mezhbizh is the name of the town of Medzhybizh in the present Ukraine which is significant as both the source of a Hasidic dynasty that bears its name and as a symbolic name for the roots of Hasidism.
Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apt, popularly known as the Apter Rebbe or Apter Rov, was born in Żmigród, Poland in 1748 and died in Mezhbizh, Russian Empire in 1825.
Menachem Nochum Twersky of Chernobyl, aka the Me'or Einayim, was a Ukrainian rabbi, and the founder of the Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty. He was a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid of Mezritch, and published one of the first works of Hasidic thought. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Hasidic movement.
Rabbi Boruch of Medzhybizh (1753–1811), was a grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. Reb Boruch was the first major "rebbe" of the Hasidic movement to hold court in Mezhbizh in his grandfather's hometown and Beis Medrash, which he inherited.
Practical Kabbalah in historical Judaism, is a branch of the Jewish mystical tradition that concerns the use of magic. It was considered permitted white magic by its practitioners, reserved for the elite, who could separate its spiritual source from qlippoth realms of evil if performed under circumstances that were holy (Q-D-Š) and pure, tumah and taharah. The concern of overstepping Judaism's strong prohibitions of impure magic ensured it remained a minor tradition in Jewish history. Its teachings include the use of Divine and angelic names for amulets and incantations.
Abraham Gershon of Kitov, also known as Rabbi Gershon of Brody, was probably born in or near Kuty (Kitov), Poland around 1701 and died in Jerusalem in 1761. He is best known as the Baal Shem Tov's brother-in-law.
Moshe Chaim Ephraim, also known as Ephraim of Sudilkov, was born in Medzhybizh, Poland 1748 and died there on the 17th of Iyar in 1800. He was best known as the Baal Shem Tov's grandson and for the work Degel Machaneh Ephraim, first published in Korets, 1810.
A Baal Shem was a historical Jewish practitioner of Practical Kabbalah and supposed miracle worker. Employing various methods, Baalei Shem are claimed to heal, enact miracles, perform exorcisms, treat various health issues, curb epidemics, protect people from disaster due to fire, robbery or the evil eye, foresee the future, decipher dreams, and bless those who sought his powers.
Israel ben Eliezer or Yisroel ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov or as the BeShT, was a Jewish mystic and healer who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. "Besht" is the acronym for Baal Shem Tov, which means "Master of the Good Name," a term for a holy man who wields the secret name of God.
According to Hasidic legend, RabbiAdam Baal Shem of Ropczyce was a Rabbi and Mystic who lead a group of Hidden Tzaddikim called Machane Yisroel, started by Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Loans. The leadership of the movement was later handed down to Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem, who in turn handed it down to Rabbi Adam Baal Shem, who in turn handed it down to Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov.
Shalom haLevi Rozenfeld, known as Rabbi Shalom of Kaminka (1800–1851), was a Galician scholar in Hasidic Judaism known as a zaddik and kabbalist. His sayings or lessons often appear in collected works of Hasidic stories or tales. He was the rabbi and Av Beit Din in Novyi Yarychiv and in Kamianka-Buzka; both were located in the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia not far from Lviv.
Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Zloczow, known as The Maggid of Zloczow, was one of the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid of Mezeritch.
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)