by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

December 11, 2008

A program designed to bring a taste of Yiddishkeit to bedtime storytelling and singing is being offered to parents with young children, thanks to local philanthropists in concert with a national Jewish foundation.

Jewish families with children from six months to six years are being invited to become members of the PJ (as in pajamas) Library and to receive a new book or CD with Jewish-themed, age-appropriate material each month for a year.

The PJ Library program was created by the Massachusetts-based Harold Grinspoon Foundation in December 2005. It now offers matching grants to 70 communities around the country.

Locally, the program is free for the first 1,400 families, made possible by support from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, and local funders the Paula and Jerry Gottesman Family Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest, which is providing the bulk of the funding, as well as Brad and Robin Klatt of Livingston. The total cost of the program over three years is close to $650,000.

The program will be administered by the Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life, the educational partner agency of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.

‘Love the books’

So far, 375 families have signed up in MetroWest; they received their first book in November, their second book this month. Letters and sample books are being mailed to 24,000 households this month.

“This program brings Jewish values alive and into the home. It also serves to reinforce our mission: Teach the child, reach the family,” said Partnership president Ellen Goldner.

“As a former preschool teacher, I flipped out when I heard about it,” she added. “Our main goal is to teach the child and engage the family on a Jewish journey.”

The Partnership will run community programs in connection with the PJ Library, including book readings and crafts events.

“It’s one way we can reach out to Jewish families with young children to create stronger Jewish homes and foster curiosity about our Jewish heritage,” said Linda Ripps, coordinator of the local program. “It’s also a way for young families who may not yet have become part of an organized Jewish community to become connected.”

Lisa Klein of Flanders signed up her three children, five-year-old Jackie, three-year-old Seth, and nine-month-old Aaron, as soon as she found out about the program.

“When I heard free Jewish books, I thought, why not?” she told NJJN in a phone interview.

The two older children attend the Bohrer-Kaufman Hebrew Academy of Morris County as well as JCC Camp Deeny Riback; the family attends services at Temple Hatikvah in Flanders but are not yet members.

“My kids love the books,” Klein said. “The illustrations are fantastic. They ask us to read them multiple times.” And these are the only Jewish books in their home, beyond baby board books, she said. “We never thought of getting other Jewish storybooks,” she said. Now she’s an advocate. “I’ve sent an e-mail about the program to every Jewish person I know in the area.”

The program is scheduled to run locally for three years. Friends or family may sponsor a child from outside the local community for $60 per child per year

---

A singer’s inspiration

AMONG THE INSPIRATIONS for the PJ Library was country singer Dolly Parton.

The program was created by Harold Grinspoon, a New England developer and philanthropist. According to Rosalie Eisen, who handles national marketing for the Grinspoon Foundation, he envisioned it as a means of “Jewish engagement within the home between parent and child.”

Eisen said that Grinspoon had for some time funded a local version of the country singer’s Imagination Library program, which provides reading matter to underprivileged communities. Then, at a Passover dinner a couple of years back, he saw the host give Jewish-themed books to the young guests.

Here was one other “ah-ha” moment, Eisen said. “Harold was on an airplane sitting next to a child who was crying. The mother brought out a book, and he saw how it immediately calmed the child.”

— ELAINE DURBACH

--TOP--

Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com