#Pj jewish library free#

That said, we also need to nourish our day in, day out Jewish lives and prioritize raising our children to have a strong Jewish identity-and that’s where donating to PJ Library comes in. Social justice, activism, and charity are a large part of being Jewish our faith is not a passive one. Our community often comes together to make a difference for those in great need, which is commendable. (Spoiler alert: Your ROI with Judaism will be more than with any soccer league or extracurricular). This must be as important (if not even more so) as academics, sports, or extracurriculars, which families can easily spend thousands of dollars per year on.

If we truly value continuity of Jewish life and the wonderful community that we have, we need to step up and help our local PJL/JFed continue the valuable work they do. Despite the large demand, our local JFed does not receive additional help from the national PJL office, nor from the HGF. I learned that not only do they have to dismiss children from the program after five years, they have a considerable wait list to start receiving books. I met with our local PJ Library leaders, and the challenges they are facing are numerous many of which I had no idea about. But this isn’t the case in our own community, which was a stunning realization. In communities that either have an endowment for their PJ Library, or communities where people make it a priority to donate to PJL, kids get to stay on it until they age out and into the PJ Our Way program for older kids, which is fully funded by the HGF. Nothing is completely free, despite what the national PJL marketing would have you believe. But it costs money, and if the local Jewish Federation isn’t getting enough funding, the terms of that PJ Library subscription can change, depending on where you are.

#Pj jewish library free#

PJ Library is marketed as a free program, and in many ways, it is. The local Jewish Federation puts over $50,000 of their own funds into the program to bring it to our community-but more families sign up all the time, requiring more funding. It’s only partially funded by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) and other donors. But isn’t it free, you might ask? Well…yes and no. When I emailed the local JFed about it, they explained that they just didn’t have the funds. The email said that they have to end enrollment after five years due to costs. One way of doing this, as you can see, is with our PJ Library books.īut in August, I received an email from the local JFed, telling me that due to funding constraints, my son is being let go from PJ Library at the end of 2022, and he will have to wait until he’s nine to sign up to receive PJ Our Way, the middle grade book program. I know that one of the ways I’ve been dealing with this is to lean in to my Jewish joy, and to continue to instill in my 6-year-old son a love of Judaism and being Jewish.

The Jewish community faces increasing antisemitism from all sides of the political spectrum, with no sign of letting up anytime soon. A recent highlight was when he opened the envelope to find a book that was written by a friend of mine, and he insisted that I take a picture of him holding the book, to send to her. We use the books in our homeschooling, and my son can often be found rereading a Sammy the Spider book. Like many families with small children, once a month when my son gets his envelope with a PJ Library book in the mail, he shrieks with joy and tears the envelope open, eager to read whatever book it is.