(openPR) - After a great 7-year run (1997-2004) with six volumes of Small Miracles (four of them national bestsellers), co-authors Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal had concluded that it was time to close the series. Stories were beginning to feel repetitive, and it was getting harder and harder to find fresh and novel ones, Yitta Halberstam recounts. Even though we were emotionally invested in the series - and in our fans who gave us so much loving support - we felt it was better to go out with a bang than a whimper. We never thought we’d have cause to resurrect the series.

But as children of holocaust survivors, Halberstam and Leventhal could not help but feel a poignant, stinging loss each time one of their parents' contemporaries died. We're watching the last remaining survivors slowly dying out, Judith Leventhal says, and with them many untold stories. We felt strongly that at least their stories should survive their deaths, both as legacy and as a way of countering the statements of holocaust deniers. We wanted to commemorate their lives and bestow the gift of their stories to successive generations. The question was: how?

Halberstam and Leventhal knew that the canon of holocaust literature was already rich and overflowing. Was there even room for another holocaust book on the crowded shelves?

We thought about the wealth of material already available, and asked ourselves: what in heaven's name can we add to this? notes Halberstam. But when we examined extant literature, we realized that most were first person testimonials, many of them written with a heavy and morbid hand, emotionally difficult for the average reader to access. This may sound irreverent, but we wondered: could we produce a volume that would attract a different and bigger readership than the usual holocaust material, a book that would combine education with entertainment - dare we say it....feel good holocaust material or holocaust-lite? In a nutshell: How to reach the next generation of People Magazine readers?

It was Judith Leventhal who suggested returning to the Small Miracles format: stories that exclusively revolved around an amazing coincidence or sets of them; stories that emphasized the goodness of both Man and G-d.

Small Miracles of the Holocaust is the first of its kind, she observes. Yes, there have been thousands of books written on the subject but never in this format that makes reading about the Holocaust so accessible!!! For the young who don't have the patience to read, for the adults who don't have the time, this book has the formula that allows anyone to sit down for just a few minutes and get a real sense of the Holocaust.The fact that there is a coincidence at the end of each story and a positive outcome gives that extra uplift to subject matter that can otherwise be so heavy, perhaps too heavy for most people to want to tackle, and it makes it intriguing, interesting, inspiring, educational and satisfying.

Adds Yitta: Much holocaust material underlines the evil that existed; we wanted to tell the story of the holocaust through the voices of our different narrators, but with a different twist: focusing on the stories where sparks of divinity resided in the ashes of evil.

The two followed their Small Miracles editor, Gary Krebs from Adams Media to Lyons Press/Globe Pequot, where he took over the position of Group Publisher. Gary is a great editor who believed in our concept. When we first approached him, he hesitated, saying that Lyons Press/Globe Pequot had never done a book like this before. Well, neither had Adams Media, Yitta rejoined, reminding Gary that Adams had originally been a career and business books publisher before it launched the first Small Miracles, a book that became the company’s first national bestseller.

Publication date is scheduled for August 2008. The books will be available at all national book store chains as well as Judaica book stores everywhere. Additionally, books may be ordered from 1800eichlers.com

Eichlers Judaica
5004 13th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11219
www.1800eichlers.com

Eichlers Judaica, and 1800Eichlers.com, based in Brooklyn, New York, are known for the largest selection of quality Judaica products and services for reasonable prices.