Yitzhak Buxbaum
Yitzhak Buxbaum (died December 23, 2020) was an American author and maggid, a preacher and storyteller in the Jewish tradition. His work focused on Hasidism, especially its storytelling, and on Neo-Hasidism. He wrote several books and many articles about these topics. Reviews of his work appeared in Jewish publications such as The Algemeiner Journal, Hadassah Magazine, The Jewish Chronicle, and Tikkun, and more broadly in Parabola and Spirituality and Practice. Manuscripts and drafts of The Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov are kept at Cornell University Library.
Buxbaum told stories in both Jewish and non-Jewish settings for diverse audiences, emphasizing the spiritual power of storytelling. He was described as one of the most active Jewish storytellers.
After being ordained a maggid by Shlomo Carlebach, he started a program to train new maggidim. Graduates include Shoshana Litman, Canada's first ordained female Jewish storyteller, and Tamir Zaltsman, who says he is the first ordained Russian-speaking maggid. Some graduates are training others to become maggidim.
He graduated from Cornell University in 1964. As a young man, he said he was an atheist and felt distant from his Jewish roots, but soul-searching and encounters with 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 for Sri Chinmoy at the United Nations. He lived in Brooklyn and was married to actor and storyteller Carole Forman.
He wrote an article titled Real Davening: Chasidic Answers to the Crisis in Prayer. His work also appeared in The Jewish Review (March 1991).
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:54 (CET).