PJ Library project expanding to Israel

The government of Israel and a North American foundation are partnering on a literacy program for Israeli preschoolers.

Israel’s government will invest $500,000 to bring to Israel the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s PJ Library, which in the United States provides free books with Jewish content to more than 100,000 Jewish children.

The program exists on a small scale in Israel, but the government’s boost will help give free books each month to some 40,000 underserved children.

Sifriyat Pijama, as it is known in Hebrew, will distribute books through Israel’s schools to children whose families have reduced or restricted financial means.

“It is exciting for us to see that the Israeli Ministry of Education finds the Sifriyat Pijama program worthy of such a large investment,” said Joanna Ballantine, executive director of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.