For the last four years, we’ve been doing something pretty amazing. We’ve sent free Jewish books and music to over 7,500 children throughout the Greater Boston area—that’s over 5,300 families. This is the kind of great reading and listening that’s perfect for a lazy Shabbat afternoon curled up in your PJs. The response has been nothing short of outstanding (if we do say so ourselves).

PJ Library® is an international Jewish book project created by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. It’s administered locally by the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, and supported in part by the funding of local donors.

We’re proud to say that PJ Library as a whole has been active in hundreds of communities nationally, as well as ones in Canada and Israel. Not just counting the Greater Boston area, we’ve sent more than 3 million books to Jewish children, all completely free to the families. Like we said, pretty amazing!

We believe strongly in the idea that easy access to Jewish books and music can help foster children’s curiosity about their Jewish heritage and help families explore their Jewish identities. When we realized that we could help families in this way, and for free, it was a no-brainer!

“We feel so fortunate to be able to participate in such a fabulous and meaningful program,” one of our participants told us in a thank you note. “All of the music and books we have been sent over the past several years have become treasured additions to our home library!”

This is the first time in a while that we’ve been able to offer subscriptions; we had quite the waiting list to get through! Thanks to the generous support of local donors and CJP, PJ Library will begin the new year with subscriptions available for children 0-5 throughout the Greater Boston area. We’ve also received a special grant specifically for communities south of Boston that will enable us to enroll additional children ages 6 months to 3 years old from these towns.

When you sign up, you and your child will receive a free monthly mailing of a high quality Jewish children’s book or music CD. Each book comes with a parent guide to enhance the reading experience. Selections feature a wide variety of themes, such as Jewish holidays, folktales and Jewish family life.

For more information and a complete listing of PJ Library books, visit bostonjcc.org/pjlibrary.

If you have questions regarding the local PJ Library program, please contact pjlibrary@jccgb.org, or call 617-558-6587.

We’ll leave you with one more excerpt from another thank you note we received. We think it embodies what we’re hoping to do: “I am married to a non-practicing Catholic. We are raising our daughter Jewish and will ultimately send her to religious school. But from age 2 on it has been PJ Library that has been the primary source of her Jewish education. The books provide a fun way for me to start a dialogue with her. They have raised her awareness that she is Jewish. For me that is priceless!”

HAPPY READING!