A local 13-year-old student develops a magazine for Jewish girls, by Jewish girls

HOLLISTON — Move over, American Girl magazine and make room for Yaldah, a magazine “for Jewish girls, by Jewish girls,” between the ages of eight and 14.
     Yaldah, which means girl in Hebrew, is the creation of Leah (a.k.a. Emily) Larson, a 13-yearold Maimonides School student who could become this Jewish generation’s next publishing giant. If all goes according to the business plan of this savvy, young publisher, editor and business manager, Yaldah will debut with its maiden issue this fall.
     “Girls like to read things that look nice,” said the young woman, who knows her market. The only thing standing between the sophisticated, story-laden and artfully  illustrated version which she skillfully calls up on her computer screen, and the actual glossy, color magazine of her dreams is about $2,700, the amount of money she still needs to raise in advertising pledges to reach the $3,000 printing tab.
     She’s sent out a letter to 70 companies including Ahava, the Israeli cosmetics firm. Larson is a soft-spoken, articulate young woman who finds the attractive and appealing commercial and literary magazines for girls her age lacking in Jewish values. The Advocate spoke with Larson a few days before she returned to school, where she’ll be entering eighth grade.
     Taking a break from what has become a full-time labor of love, Larson acknowledged that the very popular American Girl magazine is less focused on advertisements and boyfriends than other magazines for girls, such as Seventeen.
     “I still subscribe to American Girl, but a lot of the articles contradict Jewish values, on how you look on the outside and there are a lot of things devoted to celebrities, and holidays I don’t celebrate,” Larson said.
     Last November, after learning that she didn’t win the magazine’s cover contest, which she’d entered, Larson started playing around on the computer with the name Yaldah and mapped out a fall issue.
     Larson gave up going to camp and has spent her entire summer facing her computer and a telephone in an all-purpose room in her family’s modest home filled with books, family art work, several computers, and framed posters of Leah’s award-winning cover art posters.
     Larson has won 18 local and national contests and honors for her writing and art, including being a two-time winner for short stories for American Girl, whose publishers, in a few years, may end up looking over their shoulders for the Jewish market.
     “I really enjoy working on it, so it’s not a burden,” she said of her long days devoted to Yaldah. Then she nonchalantly adds the punch line that reveals the disappointing constraints of her age: “My parents had to install a lock on the door,” she said, in order to limit the time she spends on the computer.
When Larson began work on Yaldah, she sought advice from several of her personal guides, including Rabbi Mendy Kivman and Rochy Kivman, co-directors of Chabad of Milford. The Kivman’s have known Larson for about four years.
     “She’s an amazing girl,” Rabbi Kivman said. “She has her mind set and goes for it. You don’t see many teenagers of her caliber. She looks for ways to improve her standing in the community. She sees a wrong, she wants it righted.”
     Noting her sense of tzedakah, Rochy Kivman said that Larson made a personal contribution of some of her prize money to a scholarship fund so a child could attend the Chabad summer camp.
     Last spring, she brought a copy of her work-in-progress to school to show to her friends. “They loved it and said it was so cool. One friend asked, ‘How can I get a copy?’” Larson recalled.
     Being a magazine publisher as a teenager is difficult sometimes, Larson admitted. “Sometimes,” she said, “they think a kid who’s 13 can’t do it.”
     One close school friend, Zehava Gale, is a strong supporter, and wrote a book review; Gale is one of the girls on the cover photograph of the first issue.
Her parents, Evelyn Krieger and Brond Larson, are her role models, she said. “I think of myself as her executive producer,” commented her father. Larson’s younger brother and sister help test crossword puzzles and choose print fonts. She is also close with Elkie Zarchi, of the Harvard University Chabad, who Larson has asked to write an advice column for Yaldah.
     Among the first issue’s articles is a photo-packed interview with a Jewish girl in Uruguay and a seasonal story about two sisters in Baltimore who are home schooled, an idea which appeals to Larson.
     “Home schoolers are back-to school, but not really,” Larson revealed with the skill of a seasoned reporter with a nose for a great news angle. Larson is planning a pre-publication Web site, and once published, she hopes to compose an editorial board of other girls to help select a wide variety of stories including sports, which is not her area of expertise, she admitted.
     Next summer? Larson envisions herself working on another of the four annual editions she has planned. But, she added, she hopes not to skip summer camp.

Penny Schwartz

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