Our PJ Library program is on its way to implementation. Almost 90% of our community has pledged financial support beyond what they already give for B’nai Israel.

Not only is this percentage of participation unheard of in other communities, but also, in difficult times, people tend not to contribute... whether with their money or their energy. In other institutions that are participating in this program, the leader considered him or herself lucky to have one or two people that were willing to give donations – to say nothing of participating on the committee. The PJ Library committee is composed almost entirely of B’nai Israel members.

In the first year, we hope to touch the hearts, minds and lives of one hundred Jewish children and their parents. No small potatoes for the smallest of all communities in Danbury! And we are confident that, in the second and third years of the program, the number will grow more and more.

So we are, again, showing that our biggest strength is…us. Our sense of community. Our sense of being active participants in the future of the Jewish people. Our drive to uphold our vision and to live a communal life of purpose. We really live the words of the sages: If I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?

I am humbled and awed by us, by our strength and commitment to Judaism and the Jewish future. Kol HaKavod – all the glory to us!

Warmly