About Behrman House

Behrman House has served the educational needs of the Jewish community for more than a century.

In 1883, the Behrman family landed at Castle Garden in New York Harbor (before Ellis Island was used). The father was a melamed (a teacher of Hebrew language and traditions) bound for Cincinnati and his youngest son was 13-year-old Louis Behrman.

After attending Hebrew Union College, Louis Behrman worked in the Cincinnati office of the Bloch Publishing Company, where he met his wife, Sara Diamond. A decade later Louis and Sara moved to New York and in 1921 both their son Jacob and a business--Behrman's Jewish Book House--were born.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Behrman House emerged as a leading publisher of Jewish books, including such titles as the classic New American Haggadah by Mordecai Kaplan and As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg (both of which are still in print today).

Louis Behrman retired in the late 1940s and his son Jacob took over the business. Over the years, Behrman House continued to publish works by the prominent thinkers of the day: Abba Eban, Louis Jacobs, Lucy Dawidowicz, Robert Alter, and Meyer Levin.

When Jacob's own children began Jewish religious school, he saw the textbooks they brought home and realized that he could improve them greatly. It was at this time that Behrman House became a force as a publisher for the Jewish school bringing the quality and care of traditional textbook publishers to Jewish educators and students.

In 1991, Jacob’s son, David Behrman, joined the family business after spending his early years as a lawyer and consultant, and became Publisher in 2000. Together with his wife, Vicki Weber, who joined the firm some years later, they cemented Behrman House’s position as the leading publisher serving the Jewish educational community.

In 2015, the firm launched its Apples & Honey Press imprint, which has become one of the world’s leading publishers of Jewish children’s books. Grown from an initial list of four titles to more than 180, the excellence of the imprint is regularly recognized on award lists, in reviews, and by its most important critics—kids and their adults.

In 2026, David and Vicki retired and Derek Stordahl became Publisher and President of Behrman House.  Before joining Behrman House, Stordahl was General Manager at storied children’s publishers Holiday House and Peachtree and held significant leadership positions at global educational giant McGraw-Hill and influential academic and literary publisher Bloomsbury.        

A lot has changed since 1921. But one thing has remained constant—the team at Behrman House is committed to serving the Jewish community and providing the highest quality publications for educators and students. That enduring mission is now joined with memorable stories from Apples & Honey Press that support emotional growth, Jewish values, and the sweetness of community—books that help kids explore their world, build empathy and resilience, and just have fun.