Picture this: Three families are gathered in an apartment living room, kids with honey-sticky hands playing a game on the floor while parents get to know each other over Rosh Hashanah cocktails. It’s the kind of scene that makes my heart full, but it’s one that’s unimaginable for too many North American Jewish families. They may think of Rosh Hashanah as a holiday that requires hours in synagogue or hundreds of dollars in groceries, balk at the idea and then opt to do nothing. 

What is the organized Jewish community’s role in acknowledging this all-or-nothing mentality and providing an accessible alternative? There needs to be something within reach that doesn’t require a large amount of knowledge, effort or resources.  

The 2025 Jewish Families Today report from Rosov Consulting identified two critical needs for engaging non-Orthodox Jewish families. First, the report called for “step-by-step guides for Jewish rituals and life, ensuring easy access to educational resources.” Second, the report recommended launching “microgrant programs to empower families to create unique Jewish home experiences.” 

At PJ Library, creating that accessible opening for families of all types is core to our offerings. And when field research validated our instincts, we knew we were on the right track. 

PJ Library is best known for sending 650,000 free books monthly to families worldwide, helping parents and grandparents create Jewish storytime with their kids. But for us, the monthly storybooks are simply the foundation for wider-reaching support for families raising Jewish children. Our data, and recent data from the broader field, tells us that what families need — especially during peak “do Jewish” times like the High Holy Days — is the confidence and support to take those stories off the page and into their lives and communities.  

Our new holiday guides and forthcoming comprehensive Shabbat guides are doing exactly that, offering families diverse access points so they can choose their own experience. With myriad access points, family-centered learning modules, values-based content and activities, recipes and music from Jewish communities around the world, there’s truly nothing else like them on the market. 

Working in tandem with these guides is PJ Library’s newly expanded Get Together microgrant initiative. We provide $100 microgrants to help families host gatherings of three or more Jewish households, creating space for Jewish experiences that might otherwise feel too daunting or expensive to organize, and making sure these funds support demographics that might not qualify for other microgrant programs in the field. Whether it’s a neighborhood apple-picking adventure before Rosh Hashanah, a collaborative sukkah-building pizza party or a simple Shabbat dinner with friends, these grants remove barriers and give families permission to experiment with Jewish community-building.  

To keep barriers low, we don’t require host families to submit receipts, just a narrative report of their Get Together; and we provide tons of resources for families looking for a little hosting boost. Families can host and be reimbursed for several Get Togethers in a calendar year, encouraging them to either build camaraderie with the same group of people over time, or reach deeper into their local community to develop new friendships. 

Get Together helps legacy Jewish institutions, too. By working with implementing partner organizations across the US and Canada — especially Federations and JCCs — we help plug families into local life, while reducing or eliminating the need for local organizations to provide their own microgrants: we’re thrilled to be putting our money into their communities.  

And this isn’t simply feel-good programming. It’s a strategic response to real need.  

Our latest triennial study revealed something powerful: PJ Library has the highest impact on families who need accessible, parent-led Jewish engagement the most. 42% of households we reach aren’t affiliated with a synagogue, and less engaged families and multifaith families score higher than average on every measure we track. In other words, PJ Library books and programming help those families even more with everything from increased knowledge of Jewish traditions to greater confidence in engaging their children with Jewish values. 

What excites me most is how Get Together gatherings ripple outward. A parent who feels confident hosting Yom Kippur break-fast becomes someone who initiates carpools to Hebrew school or takes a leadership role in a Purim carnival. Kids who experience the joy of building a sukkah with their friends’ families grow up expecting Jewish life to be communal and welcoming. So by enabling something like Get Togethers, we’re not just creating individual Jewish experiences, but modeling what Jewish community can look like for families who may not have traditional pathways to find it. 

Now, we’re also taking the next step by encouraging them to be the builders of their own Jewish community, which is itself a core Jewish value. Because when families get together, belonging takes shape. And that sense of belonging? It’s exactly what will help keep Jewish life vibrant for the next generation. 

Jessica McCormick is the director of family experience at PJ Library, a project of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.