PJ Library Powerhouses

In small Jewish communities around the world, committed volunteers give their time and energy to bring PJ Library to families.

 

By Saskia Swenson Moss, International Program Officer, and Maya Farfel, International Project Manager

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This story appeared in the summer 2025 issue of PROOF, a PJ Library magazine.

PJ Library is available in over 40 countries and in seven languages so that any family, regardless of location, can access beautiful Jewish-themed books and feel part of the global Jewish community. But how do PJ Library books make it into children’s hands and bookshelves in places like Poland or Japan? In most countries, PJ Library partners with a local Jewish organization to distribute books, but in many small Jewish communities, there is no local partner agency. In those cases, PJ Library is made possible by volunteers.

These hardworking heroes take on multiple roles, including program director, operations manager, and delivery person, willing to do whatever it takes to get books to their communities. They tirelessly provide thousands of families with Jewish resources that would otherwise be scarce or unavailable. Their commitment enables families to incorporate Jewish traditions and values into their lives in a low-barrier, joyful way — and feel a sense of belonging to the wider Jewish world. We invite you to meet four of these incredible volunteers.

Thailand

Reut Nevo moved from Israel to Thailand in 2023 with her husband, Sathit, and two young children, Leo and Theo. Before their move, Reut took living in a thriving Jewish community for granted, not realizing how she would miss the daily comforts of Jewish life.

Growing up in Israel, Friday nights meant gathering with family for a Shabbat meal. Her grandparents often joined, and they recited the Kiddush and Shabbat blessings. Holiday festivities were ubiquitous in Israel; Reut never had to go out of her way to seek them.

“When we moved here, the first holiday that rolled around was Hanukkah. I missed the scent of sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) wafting from every bakery and the holiday’s excitement and atmosphere as I had always experienced it in Israel,” Reut recalls. “Then Tu B’Shevat, Purim, and Passover came and went, and again, there was nothing to mark or make these holidays special. Here, there is nothing to connect us to Israel or Judaism.”

Reut spoke to a friend of hers who lives in Israel. “I told her that I lack the tools to provide my boys with a link to their traditions and heritage. She grew up in Massachusetts, where she received PJ Library books, and suggested I contact PJ Library.”

That first meeting with PJ Library staff lit a spark for Reut. She quickly recruited five additional Israeli expats living in different locations around Thailand. Within 24 hours, she and her small team of volunteers had signed up more than 200 children to receive books.

Recently Reut and her family visited Israel. Her older son, Leo, brought his favorite PJ Library book, A Feather, a Pebble, a Shell, and asked to visit the many Israeli sites mentioned inside. Reut has read the story to him often and loves that he finds an affirmation of his identity within its pages.

Thanks to Reut and a generous anonymous donor, PJ Library in Thailand now reaches nearly 400 children. Security concerns currently prevent the Jewish community from gathering; families hope to hold communal holiday celebrations in the future. In the meantime, Reut and her fellow volunteers are thankful that Jewish families in Thailand can turn to PJ Library books to impart Jewish traditions to their children.

Chile

Andres Meyer, an entrepreneur, had long been aware of PJ Library from his many volunteer leadership roles in the Jewish world. But it wasn’t until he visited the US with his family and read PJ Library books to his three children that he realized how much PJ Library could benefit his local Jewish community in Chile, which had few Spanish-language Jewish children’s books at the time.

Andres and his wife, Sofia Cohen, director of the Jewish Interactive Museum of Chile, are dedicated to supporting the small Chilean Jewish community, which consists of approximately 15,800 people in a country with a total population of 20 million. Andres eagerly volunteered to establish PJ Library in Chile.

Since 2018, Andres has been managing PJ Library and delivering books monthly. He laughs about the 1,000 PJ Library books — stacked in large, bulky boxes — that are delivered to his home in Santiago quarterly. To “maintain shalom bayit (peace in the house),” he says he has perfected the task of organizing and distributing the books quickly to hundreds of families nationwide. “Fortunately,” he says, “in just 10 blocks within Santiago, we have 40% of the program’s subscribers. When my kids join me to deliver books, it goes faster and teaches them the value of tikkun olam (repairing the world).”

Prior to October 7, PJ Library was already a trusted source of treasured children’s books for families. After the attacks, Andres realized PJ Library could play an even larger role. When several local menorahs were vandalized during Hanukkah, it became clear to Andres that Jewish children needed to see positive representations of their identity.

“We are facing antisemitism that we did not know before, and we must value things that are important to us: strong schools, strong communities, and a strong PJ Library program,” he says. “After October 7, I told my children we must become October 8 people — those were the people who showed up to help.”

Andres hopes that with more donor support, he can help bring PJ Library to every Jewish child in Chile. “When parents tell me, ‘This is an amazing program. How can I help?’ I say to them, ‘Here is a box of books; you can start putting them in envelopes!’”

Singapore

When PJ Library books arrive for families in Singapore, they go directly to volunteer Kristin Dwek’s house. Kristin, originally from Atlanta, Georgia, smiles as she explains how she distributes books for the 115 kids waiting to read them.

“Because we don’t have a car,” she says, “I load big baskets of books into my stroller!”

PJ Library reaches families in two locations in Singapore. At the Sir Manasseh Meyer International School in the north, over 140 students receive monthly PJ Library books in class. Outside the school, families rely on a community-based program. Kristin and her husband, Alex, settled within walking distance of Singapore’s two historic synagogues and had their first child, Harper, in 2020. As Harper got older, Kristin joined a Jewish-moms group and wanted to help more families access PJ Library books. In 2023, she became PJ Library’s volunteer coordinator in Singapore, taking over the role from PJ Library author Tammar Stein.

Kristin has a system for distributing books to the children in her community. She brings some of the books to helpers who deliver them to their friends and neighbors. She mails some to families, and brings others to Ganenu, Singapore’s first bilingual Hebrew and English preschool, which she founded in July 2023.

For families raising Jewish children in Singapore, PJ Library is vital, Kristin says. The monthly stories help build a positive Jewish identity for Jewish children of many different backgrounds. Kristin’s favorites include Shanghai Sukkah, the story of a Jewish boy who moves from Europe to China in the 1930s, and Two New Years, a modern tale of a Chinese Jewish family that celebrates Rosh Hashanah and the Lunar New Year. Both books highlight Asian and Jewish traditions. “To have these books in your library at home means there are others like you,” she says.

Some of Kristin’s friends have children in local international schools. During the year, she encourages them to teach about a Jewish holiday in the classroom. She finds that even if they aren’t sure what to say, “if I give them a PJ Library book they can do it.”

When speaking with Kristin, now a mother of three, it becomes clear that her commitment to PJ Library is both communal and personal. “What I am building is for my children,” she says.

Bermuda

Originally from New Jersey, Victoria Cohen Markus (who goes by Tori) moved to Bermuda with her husband, Andrew, in 2013. Their three children, Eva, Will, and Jay, were born on the island — a hook-shaped British territory in the Atlantic Ocean.

Bermuda’s Jewish community is small compared to that of the Philadelphia-adjacent town where Tori grew up. She estimates that the Jewish population is around 100. But what it lacks in numbers the community makes up in strength and connection. Everyone — whether Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform; Sephardic or Ashkenazi — prays, learns, and celebrates together.

Tori decided she wanted to help launch PJ Library in Bermuda in 2023. “Everyone was bringing PJ Library books back from the US, and I realized we could have our own chapter,” she recalls. Her community leapt at the opportunity.

PJ Library books arrive at Tori’s house once a month. She sorts and organizes them and uses WhatsApp to reach out to groups of families to coordinate delivery.

“Here in Bermuda, we are a somewhat isolated Jewish community,” she says. “For me, this is one of the biggest challenges of raising Jewish children on an island in the middle of the ocean: children don’t know what they don’t see. That’s why PJ Library books are so important. Exposure to Hebrew and Jewish content gives them another dimension of our culture that they might not otherwise encounter here.”

In her own family, Tori sees the books as a crucial part of her children’s Jewish identity. She especially loves reading books about Israel because “it makes the concept of Israel real. Though my kids have never been there, I can tell them about places I’ve visited. And knowing that Israel exists is very important for them as young Jews in a non-Jewish world.”

Tori is effusive as she describes the impact of PJ Library in Bermuda. “I am getting such great feedback from parents; they are so enthusiastic about the materials,” she says. “Reading these stories and learning about our culture is good for our children.”

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The PJ Library International Fund provides children outside the US, Canada, and Israel with a reliable source of Jewish learning and connection. To support communities like those featured here, visit pjlibrary.org/proofgift.