PJ Library Pod Leaders Reflect on International Conference

Every year, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation holds the PJ Library International Conference in Springfield, MA. Over 175 PJ Library professionals and volunteers gather to learn from each other on how they can engage young families in their communities. Liz Zatz and Gabby Bush represented PJ Library Greater Raleigh at this year’s conference. We spoke to them about their experiences, what they learned, and why they believe PJ Library is so important right now.

Q: How long have you lived in Raleigh? What brought you here?

Gabby Bush (left) and Liz Zatz (right) at the PJ Library International Conference.

Liz: I am from south Florida and grew up in Boca Raton. I went to the University of Florida for my bachelor’s and master’s degrees and lived in different parts of Florida after that. My husband and I had our first child, and we decided that we wanted to move somewhere new and experience different things. We bought a house in Raleigh in 2019. We’ve lived here 6 years and are really enjoying it.

Gabby: I grew up in Brooklyn and Staten Island. In 2004, when I was in high school, we moved to North Carolina. My dad retired young from the NYPD, so we moved to the south shortly after that. I finished my last year-and-a-half of high school in Raleigh and went to UNC Greensboro for college. After college, I got a job at a civil rights law firm and moved back to Raleigh. I met my husband and got married. We moved to Wake Forest eight years ago.

Q: What is the concept behind the PJ Library Pod program?

Liz: It can look different in different areas. For me, it means getting Jewish families together in an accessible location—parks, nature centers, museum—for the purpose of connection, and celebrating a Jewish holiday or value together. The overall idea is connection, to each other and to the many ways to be a Jewish person in the current day. In the past, for myself, Judaism often felt more rigid and you had to follow certain rules and customs. There were more barriers to participating in Jewish life. PJ Library opens the door. People can come and go as they please and explore how they want to bring Jewish life into their family.

Gabby: There’s a different focus now for Jewish engagement. Not everyone is going to a physical location to interact with a community, and not everyone is a member of a synagogue. We call it “Jewish Your Way,” bringing Jewish life to your area in a way you are comfortable with. We focus on accessible and interactive programming that incorporates Jewish values. We’ve had parents say “I didn’t know about this holiday! I didn’t know about this tradition!” It’s a way for families to learn and connect through community.

Q: How did you get involved as a PJ Library Pod leader?

Liz: We started getting the free PJ Library books in 2022. I had no concept that it was anything beyond the books. Just getting free Jewish books was wonderful and I enjoyed reading and learning with my children. We had tangible things, like art projects, to do together. I got a flyer in early 2024 about PJ Library events in the community and though that was neat. Post-October 7th,I was in a bad state mentally and my social relationships were changing dramatically. I felt a real need to connect personally with Jewish community in the area, and increase my children’s Jewish community as well. I started attending PJ events that spring. Hanah Rose, the PJ Library Program Manager at the time, introduced the idea of pods. I asked if there was a downtown Raleigh pod leader, and I felt that this was what I was craving—Jewish community in my area. I dove in and I’m proud of the events I’ve planned this year. I want to see where the PJ Library journey will take me.

Gabby: I’ve always been involved in the Federation in various ways. I heard about PJ Library when my kids were young, and we got the books. I was really excited when they released the PJ Haggadah. They were putting out materials we could really engage with. The Harold Grinspoon Foundation offers Get Together Grants to put on small programs for other Jewish families, and I began using these grants to host families at my house. After October 7th, I realized I didn’t want to just be involved with my children, I wanted to be involved in my community. Hanah approached me and said she had more families in Wake Forest that I could invite. I was shocked at the number of Jewish families in Wake Forest, and it’s still growing. I’ve been dropping off challahs and introducing families with new babies to the books. We mostly do small gatherings, but our PJ Passover in Wake Forest had 40 people. It’s been a really cool experience.

Q: What was your overall experience like at the PJ Library conference?

Liz: It was a three-day conference. I felt very cared for during that time. They only served kosher meals, and they always had snacks available. Once you got there, you didn’t have to worry about anything. They had morning music and prayer sessions, and nightly jam sessions. It was a fun and playful experience. The energy was so positive.

Gabby: The theme of this year’s conference was Mirrors & Windows. Every session revolved around the idea that PJ Library should provide windows and mirrors into Jewish life. The window is about looking into different microcultures within Judaism. You’ll see Jews from different countries, Jews from multiracial families, and Jews with practices that may look very different from yours. Also, PJ Library should be a mirror. You should see yourself reflected in the stories. It can be very isolating being a Jewish kid. My son is the only Jewish kid in his class. Having a book where you can see another Jewish boy can make you feel a sense of community through storytelling. We talked about programming through that theme, fundraising and our own personal stories.

Liz: What struck me was their dedication to the theme. They had immersive experiences with the theme. They decorated the elevator with printouts of PJ Library book covers and reflective questions. In the hallway, they had mirrors with questions you could reflect on. They even wrote questions on the bathroom mirrors! We got to be in the PJ Library bubble for two days. It opened my eyes to the potential of what PJ Library can be in a community. It can be expansive, but it’s not necessarily about how large events are, or how many people attend. It’s about those small connections too. We want to engage with people in different ways. PJ Library can be so many things.

Q: What was your favorite part of the conference?

Liz: My favorite part was discovering Rick Recht, the Jewish rock musician! He was at the conference, and he led morning song and prayer sessions at 7:15am. It was optional, but I went because wanted to make the most of the experience. I found the first morning song session so invigorating that I wanted to attend the second morning. His session about incorporating music into PJ events was fun. He also led jams at night that felt like summer camp song sessions. It helped me connect with Judaism through song, which was different from what I’m used to.

Gabby: I did not wake-up at 7:15am! But I attended a session with Rick about incorporating music in programming. I usually put music on in the background of my events, but I hadn’t considered music-based programming. At our PJ Passover program I made a point to have the “Rick-style Dayenu” and all the kids got involved. Another thing that was incredible to me was that Harold Grinspoon was there. He’s a man in his 90’s, and is a leader in the culture of philanthropy. He’s committed to giving away half of his life fortune. When you can see the person behind that, and then people from all over the world there to bring his vision to life – it made me feel really inspired. When we all work together, we can do great things.

Q: What were your biggest takeaways from the conference? How do you hope to apply them to PJ Pod programs?

Liz: My biggest takeaway was a mindset shift for me when thinking about the goals of my programs. Before, I thought about it in terms of the question, “What makes a good program?” They taught that it’s really about who you are designing the program for. If someone else was designing the program, and I was a guest at that program, what would I want it to look like? I do think about that, but it opened my eyes to the fact that it’s not about planning big or popular events. I’d like to focus on those micro-connections. I want to use those bigger events to connect other people to each other. I can’t be best friends with everyone myself, but we want people to leave events having made a new friend. We can incorporate ice breakers, or have cards that make it easy to exchange contact information with someone. I wasn’t as focused on people leaving the program with a new or deeper connection. Now I want to focus more on the relationship piece.

Gabby: I was also thinking about the opposite of that. Only 3 out of 10 Jewish families know about PJ Library. That means 70% of Jewish families don’t know it exists! I want to make sure that people know about it. There’s no catch! They just want to get the books out and have Jewish families engage with these beautiful books, for free! There’s also an opportunity to create new and engaging programming that I hadn’t considered before. Look out for a grandparents program coming soon!

Q: What is something you want our readers to understand about PJ Library in Greater Raleigh?

Liz: One reflection we both had was the potential that the Greater Raleigh area has for really fostering connections through these PJ Pods and other programming. We think the desire is there. There’s a hunger for all kinds of families to connect. PJ Library can be that vessel. We are excited to continue to work in partnership with the Federation to see how we can continue to expand. We can look at other southern cities like Atlanta to see how this model is functioning in other areas. Our PJ pod lists are getting really long, and there are many people here that want to engage.

Gabby: We also talked about this idea that our community has changed post-October 7th. The PJ Library books at home were always a part of our family, but now there is a real desire for community. We want our kids to know that they have a community and they are not alone. Young kids aren’t having the hard conversations, but they can celebrate Jewish holidays with other kids. But this is also a way for parents to connect. Liz and I didn’t really know each other before this trip, but we were able to talk with each other on a level that we can’t do with non-Jewish friends. PJ Library is there for you where and when you want it. No matter your level of practice, you belong and you can “do Jewish” your own way with PJ Library.

To learn more about PJ Library, visit our website or contact Stefanie Shapiro at Stefanie.Shapiro@shalomraleigh.org.