Books published by Gefen Publishing House

It is a little known fact that there have been more than fifty prominent Jewish Messiahs. These characters, though unrenowned today, inspired messianic fervour that at times seized the whole Jewish, Christian, Muslim and even secular worlds. The stories of these fifty Messiahs, both male and female, are unknown...

When Leon was eight years old, his grandfather took him to a one-man stage performance titled, "Papirena Kinder", or Paper Children. It told the story of a bereaved old man who, despite having raised five children, had been abandoned by all of them in his old age.

The three stories in this volume are derived from real-life experiences, mostly during Arieh Larkey s more than forty years of living out his dream in the Jewish Homeland.The first story, An Improbable Zionist Recollections, is a light autobiographical sketch of life s twists and turns, which lead the author on adventures he could never have envisioned as a youth growing up in the Jewish neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey; adventures in a place that lies six thousand miles to the east of his hometown namely, the fledgling Jewish State of Israel.To round out the trilogy, the two additional short stories in this volume, entitled Nazi Germany and the Sinai a Link to the Past and My First Time...under Katyusha Fire, show tantalizing glimpses of the author s extraordinary adventures in his adopted home. Sometimes he uses fictional characters to tell the story. Other times, he himself is the protagonist. But in either case, the readers will enjoy a full 360 panoramic view of the author s physical and emotional surroundings as the stories unfold.

As the Jewish people embark on their fateful journey toward redemption, we wonder: How did the Jewish people s suffering prepare them for their destiny? What enabled them to receive the Torah? How could the people have perpetrated the golden calf debacle, and how can we successfully learn from their experiences to live wiser, more God-conscious lives? Plumbing the depths of Jewish sources, Rabbi Ari Kahn provides fascinating answers to age-old questions, infusing the parashah with fresh significance. Through provoking questions and intriguing insights, Rabbi Kahn continually inspires us to seek the Godly. Salvation and Sanctity is the second in a five-volume work on the weekly Torah portion, published jointly by Gefen Publishing House and the OU.

The Prophets sublime poetry, phantasmagoric visions, and sonorous voices have intrigued us and moved us over the centuries. The writings of the great seers of the Hebrew Bible resonate with us in ways that go beyond our own short lives, tapping in to a human consciousness that transcends our age. How do we understand them? How do we appreciate them? Nahum HaLevi has painted the prophetic visions in unified, loud, and explosively colorful visual-literary canvases, which he has then retranslated back into fresh literary-biblical analyses, providing novel understandings of the Bible and insights into the genesis of biblical thought. The Color of Prophecy contains fifteen chapters, one chapter for each of the fifteen books in the Prophets. Each chapter is accompanied by a copy of an original oil painting and the biblical analysis derived from it. This book addresses those who have an interest in the visual arts, the Bible, or both. Although it is a Jewish-inspired book, it strikes a universal chord and broadly appeals to Jews, Christians, and those of all faiths who share a common love of the Bible and art.

To Be a Princess travels the route from high school romance in the sixties to today s high-tech markets. With fascinating variety, the tales depict young people s travel experiences and students odd jobs, physicians afflictions, soldiers battles in the Middle East and terror fighter s dilemmas. This prose collection reaches the snow-capped peaks of the Peruvian Andes, Paris s working-class bars, the submarine realm in tropical seas and the vineyards of rural Greece. Mostly fictional, these short stories are all based on true events.

The book is a new interpretation of the weekly torah reading. It is written from a world view deeply committed to Judaism, which places the responsibility of interpretation and identity on each one of us. The Torah is not in heaven but in the heart and mouth of you and me, to study it and to live by it. Through this book the author tries to involve the reader in the language of the five books of Moses that has been present in our lives for thousands of years. It s a language which is human, universal, moral, historical and national. "My interpretation is one of many and I try to invite the reader or student to argue or to agree, to add or to subtract from my interpretation, or even better to develop their own interpretation and spread it around."

Throughout the generations, Jews have been inspired and guided by the tales of gedolim, our great masters of piety and wisdom. Simcha Raz s Tales of the Righteous, newly translated by Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins, brings the lives of these masters to life. Raz s pithy vignettes and awe-inspiring tales show that together with their brilliance in Torah study, these rabbis were also paragons of sensitive, ethical behavior.

It was 1933 when Yissakhar Ben-Yaacov left Hamburg, the city of his birth. His traditional Jewish family made its way to the Land of Israel, fleeing the impending disaster. In the next few years, the young pupil succeeded in making his way within his new society. After joining Ha-No ar Ha-Oved youth movement and the Haganah, Ben-Yaacov entered Israel s nascent Foreign Ministry in 1948. His service took him around the world to Munich, Cologne, Philadelphia, Lagos, Vienna, and Canberra. In A Lasting Reward, the author describes his life in detail, covering myriad exciting events both well-known and not so well-known events that span many decades and continents. He offers insightful descriptions of the inner workings of the Foreign Ministry and the calling of an Israeli diplomat. Yissakhar Ben-Yaacov s memoirs are an outstanding example of an Israeli autobiography that bears witness to the events that have shaped the history of the Jewish people in the last century.

This is the story of Benny the son of David Levi, the central figure of "Of Guns & Mules" and the five-year period he spent serving with the British army in World War II. Volunteering in the summer of 1940, Benny becomes a driver in a Jewish-Palestinian unit and sees active service in Egypt and North Africa. After taking part in the defeat of Rommel''s Afrika Corps, he is sent to Italy via Malta. There he undergoes combat training and, as a fighter in the newly formed Jewish Brigade, participates in the Allies final push against the Nazis. He also takes part in the unofficial revenge squads that hunt down and kill escaping SS officers. During the war Benny meets and falls in love with Tamar and also learns about the plight of Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. When not on duty, and with American support, Benny and his friends help those who survived the Holocaust, rescuing many concentration camp survivors and helping them reach Mandatory Palestine. After the war is over, the Brigade is sent to Belgium. Here, Benny continues to help the Jewish survivors before returning to Tel Aviv to begin a new life with Tamar.

This is the dramatic story of the rescue of Jews from Europe after World War II by North American Jewish volunteers who smashed through the British blockade and brought thousands of refugees to safe haven in Palestine through the illegal Aliyah Bet.

In Bringing the Prophets to Life, Rabbi Neil Winkler off ers us a masterful source of inspiration and insight into the early prophets. He shows us that in order to understand the vital messages of the stories, we must go beyond a simple translation of the text and identify the themes of the stories.

Read and enjoy Joe Bobker s uniquely entertaining Middos Manual, a fifty-two-week guide with dozens of anecdotes from gedolim and tzadikim that explains how Middos + Morals = Menschlichkeit 101... all with a twist of humor!

More than 100 years ago, Mark Twain wrote about the Jews and asked: "All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"

This thought-provoking and enlightening book uncovers unknown but true facts about Maimonides, his family and his unique, often controversial, but brilliant ideas.

This is a unique and remarkable translation and English commentary of the Targum Onkelos, the first and only rabbinically authorised translation of the Torah. The Book of Leviticus, the first of this five-volume set to be published, is a deluxe edition, which contains the Hebrew Massoretic text, a vocalised text of Onkelos and Rashi, Haphtarot in Hebrew with an English translation from the Aramaic Targumim, a scholarly appendix, and a "Beyond the Text" exploration of biblical themes.