Jewish, Spiritual and Beautiful

Here's a list of various books that I've worked on--as author, editor, translator or ghostwriter.  If you'd like to see any of these, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Translating

Commentary on Pirkei Avos, Vol. I, by R. Israel Lau, former Chief Rabbi of Israel (Artscroll, NY, 2006). Translating and editing.

Commentary on Tanya, Vol. II, by R. Adin Steinsaltz (2005). Translating half the book.

Zichron Av (Feldheim Publishers, Spring Valley, NY, 2002).
An ethical will from the early twentieth century by Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Grunwald, the son of the famous Rabbi Moshe ben Amram Grunwald, author of Arugas Habosem.
“A wonderfully translated work”–R. Cheskel Grunwald, grandson of the author.

Wellspring of Compassion (self-published, Baltimore, MD 2000).
“Accurate and clear, forthright and poetic”–Howard Schwartz (Gabriel's Palace, Elijah's Violin, et al.).

 The World That Was: Poland (The Living Memorial, Cleveland, OH, 1997).
I translated two Holocaust remembrances for this textbook: Fragment of a Holocaust Memoir (by Rabbi Leib Geliebeter); A Child is Born in the Bunker (by Bella Geliebter).

 The Chambers of the Palace: Teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (Jason Aronson, Inc., Northvale, NJ, 1993).
"For those seeking an entrance into the realm of Jewish spiritual and mystical teachings, there is no better guide than Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav.  Nor is there a better introduction to Rabbi Nachman's teachings than The Chambers of the Palace.  In this beautifully translated work, Shulman has selected the essential teachings from a vast library of writings and organized them into 42 primary categories”—Howard Schwartz (Gabriel's Palace, Elijah's Violin, et al.), St. Louis-Post Dispatch.
"A scholarly, well-researched, well-written contribution to Judaic studies”—Wisconsin Bookwatch.

 Pathway to Jerusalem: The Travel Letters of Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura (CIS Publishers, Lakewood, NJ, 1991).
A translation of the vivid travel letters written by a major Torah scholar of the fifteenth century.

 Ein Dim’ah (awaiting publication).
A moving 60 page sketch of life during and following the Nazi reign, by Rabbi Yehoshua Grunwald, the rabbi of Chust, Hungary.

An Angel Among Men (Kol Mevaser Publications, Israel 2003).
A biography by Simcha Raz, translated by Moshe Lichtman. My translating contribution was noted in the acknowledgements as “commendable work on the formidable last three chapters.”

Zichron Av (Feldheim Publishers, Spring Valley, NY, 2002).
An ethical will from the early twentieth century by Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Grunwald, the son of the famous Rabbi Moshe ben Amram Grunwald, author of Arugas Habosem.
“A wonderfully translated work”–R. Cheskel Grunwald, grandson of the author.

Wellspring of Compassion (self-published, Baltimore, MD 2000).
“Accurate and clear, forthright and poetic”–Howard Schwartz (Gabriel's Palace, Elijah's Violin, et al.).

The World That Was: Poland (The Living Memorial, Cleveland, OH, 1997).
I translated two Holocaust remembrances for this textbook: Fragment of a Holocaust Memoir (by Rabbi Leib Geliebeter); A Child is Born in the Bunker (by Bella Geliebter).

Non-Fiction

The Sefirot: Ten Emanations of Divine Power (Jason Aronson, Inc., NJ, 1996). Author.
"Beautiful, poetic, and inspiring"--Norman Lamm, past President, Yeshiva University.
"An elegant and impassioned book that translates Jewish mystical wisdom into a contemporary idiom"--Daniel Matt, author of The Essential         Kabbalah and God and the Big Bang.
"Drawing on many different sources, Y. David Shulman has offered us a book of ancient teachings that can enrich and elevate the modern soul"--David Wolpe, author of The Healer of Shattered Hearts.

Memoir Ghostwriting

Memories From a Vanished World (Feldheim Publishers, Jerusalem, 2004).
Put in book form the memoirs of Guta Sternbuch, who grew up in Warsaw as a Jewish girl struggling with her faith, endured the Warsaw Ghetto, and then made a life for herself in post-war Switzerland.
AYaacov David Shulman, editor par excellence, pulled extensive interviews together into a unified whole, engaged in historical detective work, and evinced sensitivity to the voice and style of Mrs. Sternbuch@BProfessor David Kranzler (prize-winning historian and author).

Memoirs of a Yiddish Actress (self-published, New York, NY 1993).
The memoirs of Cypora Glikson, a Yiddish actress who lived in Poland as a young woman when the Holocaust began.

Historical Biography

Reb Israel Salanter (CIS Publishers, Lakewood, NJ, 1995).
"A superb biography....Lucid style and skilled scholarship"--Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

The Gaon of Vilna (CIS Publishers, Lakewood, NJ, 1994).

Rambam (CIS Publishers, Lakewood, NJ, 1994).

Rashi  (CIS Publishers, Lakewood, NJ, 1993).

The Ramban (CIS Publishers, Lakewood, NJ, 1992).

The Maharal of Prague (CIS Publishers, Lakewood, NJ, 1992).
"I would like to thank you for the superb story of the king's dream in The Maharal of Prague.  Dreams are my hobby, but I've never come across anything with the clarity of this story”—Nancy Nachum, Jerusalem.

The Chasam Sofer (CIS Publishers, Lakewood, NJ, 1991).

The Rema—The Story of Rabbi Isserles of Cracow (CIS Publishers, Lakewood, NJ, 1991).

The Noda Beyihuda (CIS Publishers, Lakewood, NJ, 1990).Translation and adaptation from the Hebrew of a children's biography of Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, the great Torah leader of eighteenth century Prague.

 Research

From Ashes to Triumph (Agudath Israel, New York, NY 1995).
Worked as research and interviewing assistant for film-maker Menachem Daum (co-producer of the award-winning A Life Apart: Hasidism in America), on From Ashes to Triumph, a film based on interviews conducted with Holocaust survivors.

Poetry and Song Lyrics

Lyrics for Inasense (Soulfarm).

Bedside Prayers (HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, CA 1997).
My poetry appeared in this anthology by June Cotner.

Little Psalms (Wings of the Morning Press, Monsey, NY, 1987).
"I so much liked your perfect Little Psalms—some of them so much in the spirit (and often the language-of-feeling) of Yiddish poetry.  You've created a fine amalgam of the American tongue and its sensibilities, and your new/old yeshiva explorations”—Cynthia Ozick.

You may reach me here: yacovdavid@gmail.com.  Thank you!