The Maharal of Prague. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood,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.

 

 

Reb Israel Salanter. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood, 1995). “A superb biography….Lucid style and skilled scholarship” —Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

 

The Vilna Gaon. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood,1994).

 

I am a writer, ghostwriter, translator and editor of over forty books. I specialize in Torah and literary texts, and have also worked on memoirs, as well as books dealing with politics, business and holistic living.

 

My work has been acclaimed by figures such as Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm (President Emeritus of Yeshiva University), Professor Daniel Matt (professor of kabbalah at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley), Cynthia Ozick (leading Jewish-American author and winner of the PEN/Nabokov Award), Professor Howard Schwartz (author and three-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award) and Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hirsch Weinreb (President Emeritus of the Orthodox Union).

To read selections from my books, please go to “Author,” “Translator” and “Editor,” or click on any title listed below.

You may also visit my extensive collection of translations by Rav Kook and other Jewish masters (such as Rebbe Nachman of Breslov and the Piaseszner Rebbe) or read some of my poetry.

Author:
 The Sefirot. Hasidic thought. (Jason Aronson, NJ 1996) to download and view the free PDF of this inspiring work  please click the_sefirot (1)efirot (1)“Beautiful, poetic, and inspiring”
 —Norman Lamm, President, Yeshiva University.
 “An elegant and impassioned book that translates Jewish mystical wisdom into a contemporary idiom”
 —Daniel Matt, 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, The Healer of Shattered Hearts.

Reb Israel Salanter. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood, 1995).
“A superb biography….Lucid style and skilled scholarship”
—Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

The Vilna Gaon. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood,1994).

The Rambam. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood,1994).

Rashi. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood,1993).

The Ramban. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood,1992).

The Maharal of Prague. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood,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. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood,1991).

The Rema. Historical biography. (CIS Books, Lakewood,1991).

Little Psalms. Poetry. (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, author of The Shawl,winner of the National Book Critics Circle for Criticism and PEN/Nabokov Award, 2008.

Translator:
New!
Charity Elevates a People: Rav Kook on the Value of Charity, by Rabbi Zvi Yisrael Tau (Khosen Yeshuot, Jerusalem, 2016).

Selected Paragraphs from Arfilei Tohar, by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook, with commentaries by Pinchas Polonsky (Machanaim USA, Newton, MA 2012).

An Angel Among Men, by Simcha Raz. Jewish thought. Narratives translated by Rabbi Moshe Lichtman. I translated Rav Kook’s letters and selected teachings. (Kol Mevaser, Jerusalem, 2003).
“Yaacov Dovid Shulman is a master translator who is able to capture the language, the poetry and the beauty of Rav Kook’s Hebrew, which is often very difficult to read in the original, even by people who are very literate in Hebrew”
—Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, president of the Orthodox Union (OU).
“Mr. Shulman’s translations are accurate and clear, forthright and poetic”
—Prof. Howard Schwartz, three-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, author of Leaves from the Garden of Eden, Tree of Souls, etc.
“Yaacov Shulman’s translations of Rav Kook are engaging and clear. He even succeeds in conveying a sense of the poetry of the original text—no mean feat”
–Rabbi Chanan Morrison, author of Gold from the Land of Israel and webmaster of ravkooktorah.org.

The Fiftieth Gate: Likutey Tefilot, Volume Four, by Rabbi Nosson Sternhartz. Prayers. (Breslov Research Institute,
Jerusulem, 2010-12)

The Fiftieth Gate: Likutey Tefilot, Volume Three, by Rabbi Nosson Sternhartz. Prayers. (Breslov Research Institute,
Jerusulem, 2010)

Chambers of the Palace: Teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. Hasidic teachings. Translator and Anthologist. (Jason Aronson, NJ, 1993).
Main Selection of The Jewish Book Club.
“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,three-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, author of Leaves from the Garden of Eden, Tree of Souls, etc. St. Louis-Post Dispatch.
“A scholarly, well-researched, well-written contribution to Judaic studies”
–Wisconsin Bookwatch.

Mysticism and Madness: The Religious Thought of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, by Prof. Zvi Mark. Academic religious studies. Translator of second half of book. (Continuum Books, London 2009).

“The Dybbuk as Imagery and as Psychological State in the Work and Life of Yona Wallach,” article by Prof. Zvi Mark, Hebrew Studies, Volume 50, 200, pp. 245-264.

Learning from the Tanya: Volume Two in the Definitive Commentary on the Moral and Mystical Teachings of a Classic Work of Kabbalah, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. Hasidic teachings. Translator of the second half of the book.
(Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA 2005).

Understanding the Tanya: Volume Three in the Definitive Commentary on a Classic Work of Kabbalah by the
World’s Foremost Authority, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. Hasidic teachings. (Josse-Bass, San Francisco, 2007).

Rav Lau on Pirkei Avos, three volumes, by Rabbi Israel Meir Lau (former Chief Rabbi of Israel). Popular Torah ideas. Translator and Editor. (Artscroll Mesorah,Brooklyn, NY, 2006-07).

Zichron Av, by R, Yekusiel Yehudah Grunwald, son of the Arugas Habosem. Ethical will. (Feldheim, Spring Valley, 2002).

Pathway to Jerusalem: Letters of Rav Ovadiah of Bartenura. Fifteenth century travel letters. (CIS Books, Lakewood, 1991).

Experiencing the Divine–Bnai Machshavah Tovah, by R. Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Piaseszner Rebbe (published on the Internet).

Memoirs of a Yiddish Actress. The Yiddish-language memoirs of Cypora Glikson, a well-known Yiddish actress who lived in Poland as a young woman when the Holocaust began (privately published, New York, NY 1993).
“Yaacov David Shulman did a superb job in translating my mother’s manuscript. His translation was authentic and extremely readable, and captured the exact sense and nuances of the original manuscript. In addition, I would note that he is extremely ‘interactive’ and a pleasure to work with”
—Dr. Jerry Glickson.

At the Window of My Life. The Yiddish-language memoir of Aliza Greenblatt, a well-known Yiddish-American poet and songwriter. This work has only been partially translated.

Rabbi Nachman: Seer of Podolia. A translation from the Yiddish of the work by Polish-Jewish pre-World War II journalist and thinker, Hillel Zeitlin. This work has only been partially translated (awaiting publication).

With Weeping Eyes: A Holocaust Memoir, by Rabbi Yehoshua Grunwald, rav of Chust (awaiting publication).

The Noda Beyihuda, by Rabbi R. Weingarten. Historical biography. Translator and Editor. (CIS Books, Lakewood,1990).

Editor:
Song of Teshuvah: A Commentary on Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook’s Oros Hateshuvah, four volume work, of which two volumes have been published, by Rabbi Moshe Weinberger. Jewish thought. Editor of Rav Weinberger’s text, and translator of Orot Hateshuvah. (Penina Press, Jerusalem, 2011).
“More accurate and closer to the original Hebrew than Ben Zion Bokser’s 1978 translation. More importantly, the English flows and is eminently readable…. Shulman’s translation … is clear and smooth; he even manages to covey some of the poetry of the original text”
—Rabbi Chanan Morrison, review for Tradition magazine.

Rebbe Nachman’s Torah, three volumes, by R. Chaim Kramer. Hasidic thought. (Breslov Research Institute, Jerusalem, 2011-2012).

Artscroll Commentary on Mishlei/Proverbs, Volume Two, by Rabbi Eliezer Ginsburg. Biblical commentary. (Artscroll Mesorah, Brooklyn, NY 2006).

Artscroll Commentary on Shmuel I/Samuel, Volume One, by Rabbi Eliezer Ginsburg. Biblical commentary. (Artscroll Mesorah, Brooklyn, NY 2005).

People of the Book, by Osher Chaim Levene. Biblical studies. (Feldheim, Jerusalem, 2008).

The Man Who Stopped the Trains to Auschwitz (history) by Prof. David Kranzler (Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY 2000).

The Case of Hotel Polski (history) by Abraham Shulman (Holocaust Press, New York, NY 1982).

Adventures of a Yiddish Lecturer (humor) by Abraham Shulman (Pilgrim Press, New York, NY 1980).

The Old Country (history) by Abraham Shulman (Scribner, New York, NY 1976)

Ghostwriter:
–Biography
Gutta: Memories of a Vanished World, by Gutta Sternbuch. Holocaust memoir. (Feldheim, Jerusalem, 2005).
“Yaacov Dovid 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”
–Professor David Kranzler (prize-winning historian and author).
“I have just finished reading Memories From a Vanished World for the second time … It is such an interesting book that
I could even read it a third time and a fourth”
–Dr. Sarah Kadosh, Holocaust historian in Jerusalem.

Charlie Reminisces (privately printed, 2002).
Put in book form the autobiography of philanthropist, which was commissioned for his family.

–Politics
Hope for Our Nation: Guyana Vision, 2020, by Peter R. Ramsaroop (Evolvent Press, Washington, DC, 2004).
Gathered and edited author’s writings on his political platform into a full-length book.

–Business
Surfing the Leadership Wave, by Peter R. Ramsaroop (Evolvent Press, Washington, DC 2003).
Aided significantly in research, writing and editing of book on leadership by the CEO of EVOLVENT Technologies, Inc.
“Yaacov Shulman’s creative writing skills and research skills were excellent and more than met my expectations”— Peter Ramsaroop.

Securing Business Intelligence: Knowledge and Cybersecurity in the Post 9/11 World, by Peter R. Ramsaroop and Bill W. Oldham (Evolvent Press, Washington, DC 2004).
Aided significantly in research, writing and editing of book.

–Holistic Living
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise (privately published, 2003).
Revised, reshaped, researched and added original material for a book on health, finances and personal growth.
“Yaacov rescued a floundering project, and brought it back to a vital life! I found Yaacov a pleasure to work with: bright, quick, responsive, and sensitive to my ‘writer’s voice’ as well as my intent for the project. I recommend him highly”—Dr. David Kamnitzer.