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| Volume 7 Issue 1 | Fall 2000 |
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This letter, from Publisher Jacob Behrman, was first sent to the Behrman House staff.
To my friends and colleagues:
Most of my life has been about children. My two children, later joined by my two children-in-law and now, very much, by my seven grandchildren. But my life has also been about the children you have educated, are educating, and will educate. Through Behrman House and our books, I have been most fortunate; I have been able to spend my life thinking about, and providing, one critical aspect of what children need to grow--the finest books available for their Jewish education.
More than fifty years have passed much too quickly and now I find things not working quite as well as they once did. For example, I don't think I could bum across the country on freight cars, as I did in my youth. But one thing is working just as well, and in many ways, even better--and that is Behrman House, not Behrman House at 1261 Broadway, nor Behrman House of West Orange, but the Behrman House my successor moved to Springfield.
It is said that the mark of a good leader is his or her ability to select a successor. Forty-five years ago, in one of my more treasured moments, I met this person--my son, David. We are, like so many fathers and sons, very different and very much the same. So it is no surprise to those who know us that he is now leading Behrman House in his own way, and charting its future direction with skill and confidence.
Anyone with children knows the feeling of watching them ride off on their bike for the first time, or leave for college, and maybe some of you know the feeling of watching your child take charge of something you have built. It is a sacred trust; pride cannot even begin to describe the emotion.
I wish I could say Behrman House has a policy of mandatory retirement at seventy-nine, but that is not true. Nor do I feel completely superfluous; I can still come up with a good idea every now and then. But it is time to go. They know where to reach me if they want sage advice. I have the luxury of going with an absolutely clear conscience--I leave you in the finest of hands; I leave you with my son.
| --Jacob G. Behrman |
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