Books published by Gefen Publishing House

After being brutally hacked at with a machete multiple times and with her friend murdered in front of her eyes, Kay Wilson somehow managed not only to fool her attackers and play dead, she rose to her feet and gagged and bound, and bleeding to death, staggered barefoot for over a mile.

Ephraim Lapid''s book presents the vast successes of the Israeli intelligence community, yet does not refrain from exposing its failures as well. A must-read for all who take interest in the security of the state and in the history of Israel, the IDF, and the clandestine community. With the trustworthy hand of one who was involved in the building, Ephraim Lapid spreads before us the story of the development of Israeli intelligence from its inception (with an emphasis on the 60s and 70s), painting a wide and complex view of the circumstances, threats, and opportunities that turned Israeli intelligence into one of the best in the world. Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak, former prime minister, defense minister, and foreign affairs minister of the State of Israel. Ephraim Lapid provides the reader with a rare and detailed insight into the way the Israeli intelligence community steadily developed over the years and assumed a crucial role as both an originator of unorthodox diplomacy and a tool that was vital to Israel''s success in leading the country from six hundred thousand to over six million Jews and over two million indigenous Arabs. No other book provides the range and depth seen here. The book provides a minute and detailed description of the infrastructure that has not only chalked up dramatic and critical operational results, but has also reinvented itself as new challenges have necessitated rapid solutions. Efraim Halevy, ninth head of the Mossad; former chairman of the Israeli National Security Council.

In his third book of the Israel for Beginners series, the author again uses his personal experience to highlight the challenges of non-natives (about 40 percent of the Israeli population) as they negotiate life in their adoptive country. Through a collection of insightful essays, Israelis are once again wittily explained to prospective immigrants, new immigrants, and the public at large. Israel for Perplexed Beginners is an enjoyable read for newcomers and old-timers alike. Learn more about: Sabras: like cactus pears to which they are often compared, the Israeli natives display a spiny exterior concealing a tender, sweet core. Israeli technologys great advancement in the last decades: it has apparently been produced by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things. Desalination: from Moses parting the Red Sea to Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee, the ability of Jews to perform miracles with water has been legendary and much more!

Haim Lifshitz relates in his book on Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook, Shivchei Harayah, Someone once told Rabbi Kook, God willing, we will move to the Land of Israel. Rav Kook replied, ''God is certainly willing. What counts is that you be willing.'' Rabbi Dov Lipmans Coming Home, a survey of Jewish thought on the significance of living in the Land of Israel, is epitomized by this exchange. Coming Home presents the sources in classic Jewish texts regarding the primacy of living in the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition. Beginning with the story of the first aliyah Avraham to twentieth-century leaders, the book includes sources, commentaries, and stories to make the point that living in the Land of Israel is among the highest ideals in Judaism. The book can be appreciated by teenagers through seniors and can be used as a basis for a syllabus or curriculum for a course in schools and synagogues.

Exciting, interesting and inspiring, for young and old, for scholars and novices.

Nachmanides was and still is a highly respected scholar. Yet despite his brilliance he had ideas that many modern Jews are unable to accept. He was the first person who contended that the Bible, Targum Onkelos, and the other Aramaic translations of the Bible contained mystical teachings. In this volume, Dr. Drazin reveals some unusual and generally unknown facts about the revered sage and demonstrates that his mystical notions and his stands on issues such as medicine, magic, astrology, divination, life after death, the land of Israel, women, angels, hell, demons, and even God are not the normative views of most modern Jews. This fresh look at one of Judaisms most venerated sages asks and answers provocative questions on the nature of Nachmanides work and its role in Jewish thought.

Avraham examines media coverage of Palestinian terror attacks in Israel through the lens of the terrorists' agendas and the extent to which those agendas have infiltrated the media. The book explains how journalists can cover terror attacks without giving in to the publicity objectives of the terror organizations.

Since 1948, Israel has withstood three full-scale invasions on multiple fronts, bloody wars with Palestinian militias, deadly bombings of its diplomatic missions, and hundreds of terrorist attacks within its territory and against its citizens abroad.

"Ecclesiastes, 'the greatest single piece of literature I have known' (Thomas Wolfe) continues to engage readers. The book is so controversial that some of the earliest rabbis sought to exclude it from the Bible in light of its self-contradictions and occasional near-heresies. Fortunately, the depth of thought won out. This commentary confronts the book from a perspective that is literary, while maintaining the highest academic standards. The volume is strikingly new, including the following central reconsideration's: Ecclesiastes was written with empowering the reader in mind. It is not a developed philosophy, but a short novelette, a story of one man's search for verifiable evidence of God's workings in this world (which he does not find). Strikingly, his principal consequent advice is: 'Enjoy.' The book is a retrospective collection, so one finds a plethora of voices from one person the young searcher, the poet, the teacher, the old man obsessed with death, etc. To these, the author adds the slightly dissenting voice of the one presenting the book. This variety turns the novelette into a parallel ongoing dialogue. The presentation as first person speech serves both to make the reader more sympathetic toward the speaker and yet less accepting of his contentions. Many of the 'contradictions' in Ecclesiastes are in fact evidence of growth and change, as observable in the text. The reader is left to judge these as maturity, as the weakness of age, or possibly as the confusions inherent in life. As the speaker turns ever more to advice on how to get along, ultimately recommending no more contemplation, the reader is nevertheless left with more questions than answers. This book does not seek to provide answers to all the challenges, but rather a challenge to all the answers."

We strive for holiness, but the quest is so elusive. And yet, the path toward holiness is embedded within the Torahs words, for all who seek to grapple with them. With striking insight, Rabbi Ari Kahn draws out of the book of Vayikra meaningful instructions for attaining holiness -- in our nation, in our relationships with our loved ones, and within ourselves. Also, entitled In Search of Holiness, this is the third in a five-volume Me''orei Ha''Aish: Fire and Flame series on the weekly Torah portion, published jointly by Gefen Publishing House and the OU.

Perhaps no other city has been spoken of as often or as passionately as Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Book of Quotations brings together the kaleidoscopic impressions and perspectives of a representative group of those who have responded to the wonder of the Holy City from the biblical period to the present: Jews, Christians, and Muslims; pilgrims as well as skeptics, travelers, conquerors, scholars, and statesmen. The work gives expression to the discordant notes of contrasting perspectives about the meaning of Jerusalem. At the same time, it reflects the city s unique distinction as the embodiment of mankind s highest ethical and spiritual aspirations.

In 1929 Albert Londres, a non-Jew and renowned journalist, set out to document the lives of Jews at this time. His travels to England, Eastern Europe and finally Palestine produced the literary masterpiece, "The Wandering Jew has Arrived."

For 50 years, until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the Soviet Union ran a campaign of repression, imprisonment, political trials and terror against its 3 million Jews. In Australia, political leaders and the Jewish community contributed significantly to the international protest movement which eventually triumphed over Moscow''s tyranny and led to the modern Exodus of Soviet Jews to Israel and other countries. Lipski and Rutland make this largely unknown Australian story come alive with a combination of passion, personal experience and ground-breaking research.

Have you ever felt that you are just not living up to your potential? That you could be getting more out of life? In this introspective guide, Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn taps into the wisdom of the wisest of men Abraham, Joseph, and Moses to reveal ancient secrets of productivity and success. Along with passages from the Torah and quotes from noted Jewish scholars and leaders, Rabbi Einhorn incorporates thoughts and experiences from popular culture by citing the likes of the rock group Queen, Muhammad Ali, and inspirational speaker and author Tony Robbins, among countless others. With a wit and charm honed from his varied experiences as a rabbi, lecturer, and teacher, Rabbi Einhorn melds the ancient Jewish sources with the best of modernity to guide readers to a better, more fulfilled life. Discover a vibrant and spiritual way of life a Judaism Alive!