Papercuts and gangsters
Gefen Publishing House successfully creates its own niche in Jewish book world
NECHEMIA MEYERS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Two of the most successful books put out by the Gefen Publishing House of Jerusalem concern paper-cuts and gangsters, but, let me hasten to add, both the papercuts and the gangsters are Jewish.
Neither are Gefen's bestseller. That distinction belongs to Mazal Tov— Baby's First Record Book, of which 25,000 copies have already been sold. However, the lavishly illustrated Jewish Papercuts has won prizes for its design and the one on gangsters, But he was Good to his Mother, will probably be the first Gefen title to be filmed.
Established in 1981, Gefen is a family business, originally founded by former New Yorker Murray Greenfield and now run by his two sabra sons, Ilan and Dror. The fact that it has lasted so long in an economically perilous field is because it has created its own niche in the Jewish book field and that it operates on a shoestring budget. These factors allow it to make a profit on
a $29.95 book like The Jews of Lithuania with sales of 4,000 copies, or on a $95 book book like Chemical Warfare Medicine wdth sales of only 500 copies.
Obtaining manuscripts is no problem. Two or three are sent to Gefen — one-third fix)m Israel and two-thirds from overseas — every single week. Of these, about 15 percent are eventually published.
Marketing is the real issue for Gefen, as it is for every other publisher. But the Jerusalem firm has an extra burden to bear: almost all its potential customers are in North America, 6,000 miles away from the Holy City. So it employs almost as many salesmen in the United States and Canada (six) as it does permanent staff in Jerusalem (eight).
"Selling books directly to customers," explains Dror, "is best
for us; that way a $30 book brings us $30. But we mostly sell through the big chains, where, if we are lucky, a $30 book brings us $12. Moreover, a chain that orders, let us say, 200 copies of a book, can return as many as it likes, even the entire 200.
"Insofar as possible," Dror goes on, "we try to contact people and organizations that are likely to be interested in the subject dwelt upon in a particular volume. Thus when we put out Intercountry Adoptions, written by Hebrew University Prof Eliezer David Jaffe, we mailed flyers to thousands of adoption agencies and lawyers, pointing out that it is the only book in existence with extensive information on adoption laws and procedures around the globe."
Gefen is probably the world
leader where publications on the Holocaust and related events are concerned, perhaps because Hana Greenfield, the mother of Dan and Dror, is herself a former concentration camp inmate and wrote a book on the subject. Fragments of Memory. Indeed, some 15 percent of Gefen's 200 titles relate to the Holocaust, and an additional 10 percent to Jewish law and lore.
Contributing to the aesthetic quality of several "Jewish books" on the company's list is famous Israeli artist Yaakov Agam, known for his multi-dimensional graphics. Most of his creations don't come cheap. Mr. Gefen sells a sjxjcial edition of the Five Books of Moses — topped by a Agam rainbow cover — for $1,800. At the same time, a paperback Agam Haggadah is only $12.95.
And if you don't want to pay even that much for a "Jewish book," you can order The Milzuah Mouse — albeit without Agam illustrations — for
$8.95. n
DEMJANJUK from page 64
case. "When a group of survivors who escaped from Tre-blinka gathered in the forest, they discussed the revolt that made it possible for them to escape," he said. "Many of them described in detail the death of Ivan the Terrible as they 'saw' it with their own eyes.
"Yet, we know for sure that Iviin the Terrible lived at least till March, 1945, while the revolt was on Aug. 2,1943. Furthermore, if a survivor sees someone who resembles a sadistic camp guard, then because of his understandable strong will to punish imd take revenge on such a bastard, it is easy for him to persuade himself that this is the man."
The danger of hanging an innocent man, Mr. Sheftel added, is even greater in a high-profile trial like that of Mr. Demjanjuk.
Despite his convictions, mainstream U.S. publishers, Mr. Sheftal complained, refused to touch the book.
Maybe, as he charged, it wasn't politically con-ect. But maybe because tJiey were still wondering, like many of us who covered the Jerusalem trial, just what Ivan the Not So Terrible was doing as an auxiliary SS guard. I 1
Best Wishes for a Hoppy and Prosperous New Year to the Entire Jewish Community from
The Setton Family
Mrs. Ilene-Jo Greenberg-Roitman
Wishes her Relatives and Friends A Happy and Healthy New Year
Ma^ mu^ (HdaiuMJi and CJ^yiendji
and ^eaee. thretu/haut IktL Q^4mv
Norman and Lola Pawer Michael, Reesa and Jacob Pawer
Jackie, Elle and David Setton Lisa, Alan and Matthew Borodltsky
The Klei Kodesh of Congregation Beth
Israel, Rabbi Wilfred and Phyllis Solomon, Cantor Stephen and Jocelyn Levin, David Rubin and family
extend to the entire Community best wishes for a "Shana Tova Umetukah".