| KTAV Publishing House | |
| Founder: | Asher and Feiga (Fannie) Scharfstein |
| Country: | United States |
| Headquarters: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Keypeople: | Moshe Heller, Levi Rodal, Raphaël Freeman, Akiva Atwood |
| Topics: | Judaica and Jewish educational texts |
| Genre: | Jewish |
| Imprints: | KTAV, Targum |
| Owner: | Moshe Heller |
| Url: | http://www.ktav.com |
KTAV Publishing House is a publishing house located in Brooklyn, New York.[1] Ktav means "to write" in Hebrew.[1] [2]
Founded in 1921, it has been among the most notable publishers of Judaica and Jewish educational texts since the middle of the 20th century. In 2004, Ktav was designated a Parents' Choice Award-Winning company.
Ktav Publishing House was founded in 1921, and took on its name in the late 1920s when it began publishing notebooks.[2] [3] Sol and Bernie Scharfstein took over Ktav from their parents Asher and Feiga (Fannie), becoming co-owners.[4] [2] [5]
Ktav has over the years been located on Canal Street in Manhattan, in Hoboken, New Jersey, Jersey City, and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York.[2] From 1984 when it moved from Manhattan, and as of 1992, the publishing house was located in Hoboken's industrial district, and was part of a $3-million-a-year publishing and novelty enterprise.[1] [6]
Ktav was as of 1992 run by Sol Scharfstein (who handled the textbook division) and his younger brother Bernie Scharfstein (who handled administrative matters, and oversaw scholarly and theological works).[2]
Ktav in 1992 had a catalog of over 700 titles, and in 2008 its catalog included textbooks, siddurs (Jewish prayer books), scholarly works, and books on spirituality.[2] It published approximately 25 new books every year in 1992, and 15 or 16 new books every year in 2008.[1] [2] Some of Ktav's books were anticipated to sell only a few hundred copies, while others were anticipated to sell in greater numbers.[1]
In 2004, Ktav was designated a Parents' Choice Award-Winning company.[7]
As of 2014, the owner and CEO of Ktav is Moshe Heller who previously had founded Urim Publications in 1997 which is an independent publishing house based in Jerusalem and New York.[4] [5] [8]