Jewish Community News

News: September 2008

Bedtime is family time, in a very Jewish way

For children aged six months to five-and-a-half years, a delightful surprise awaits! Coming soon to a bedside near you will be one book a month from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. The book will have Jewish content. It will be colorful, well-written, and vetted by a selection committee of nationally respected educators and rabbis. It will give parents an opportunity to explore Jewish identity in an atmosphere of smiles and cuddles. And, best of all, each book is free for the first year.
    This is The PJ Library™ Program of Silicon Valley, and it is open to every young child in the South Bay Jewish community. Children will soon learn to recognize the big white envelope with their new monthly book — addressed just to them. Imagine their excitement!
  Funded by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation of Western Massachusetts and a grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation of San Francisco to all three Bay Area Federations, these grants underwrite the services of Rabbi Leslie Alexander as the program’s coordinator, and provide support for outreach programming in the South Bay. Jyl Jurman, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley acknowledges this significant support: “This nationally recognized program could not happen in our community without the support from the Jim Joseph Foundation. We are incredibly fortunate to have this program fully funded by these grants.”
   “A year ago, our Board of Directors set ‘outreach’ as a primary goal for our Federation. The PJ Library™ Program is an incredible opportunity to reach out to Jewish families and welcome them more closely to our community,” said Jurman.  To this end,  the Federation is working with Rabbi Kerry Olitsky from the Jewish Outreach Initiative to “strengthen our community as a welcoming environment.” As part of its relationship with the Grinspoon and Joseph Foundations, the Federation will seek funding, Jurman says, “to do important follow-up programming with our young families.”
    Each age-appropriate book comes with a reader’s guide for parents. Says Rabbi Alexander, “This is an amazing opportunity for a Jewish parent to learn more about their Jewish heritage in a respectful, low-key way. Through the diversity and relevance of topics, educational notes, and creative family ideas that come with every book, the wonder and delight of Jewish life gets blended with the most important and loving moments in a family’s life.”
    Rabbi Alexander, Federation CEO Jyl Jurman, and Eleanor Weber Dickman, the volunteer chair of the community steering committee for The PJ Library™ Program of Silicon Valley, are committed to the Grinspoon Foundation’s goal of enrolling hundreds of children from unaffiliated or marginally affiliated Jewish families in Silicon Valley. Equally important, however, is the intention to involve all of the organizations of the Silicon Valley Jewish community in building a cohesive and inclusive PJ Library™ Program.
   To this end, a meeting of representatives from synagogues, schools, and community service agencies throughout the South Bay met on July 10 to learn more about The PJ Library™ Program of Silicon Valley, and to join the effort as “Constituent Partners.” Nearly every organization of the Silicon Valley Jewish community was represented. “No one left without being profoundly impressed about The PJ Library™ Program,” says Rabbi Alexander. “A number of organizations signed on immediately, and more have enrolled every week.”
    A community steering committee, currently in formation, will help the staff design, evaluate, and implement outreach activities and educational programming. A community-wide mailing will be distributed before the High Holy Days, encouraging families to sign up — either by mail or by visiting The PJ Library™ Program website at www.pjlibrary.org.  Delivery of the first free books will take place approximately within six weeks after the initial sign-up.