Jewish ritual is often reliant on community. A group of 10 is needed for full prayer services, Sukkot and Passover celebrations are warmly open to guests and neighbors, and “the more, the merrier” mentality is a valued one when it comes to the Shabbat dinner table. Get Together, PJ Library’s signature microgrant program to support small group gatherings, fits squarely within this welcoming tradition.
In 2016, we launched Get Together as a pilot program in 10 communities across the U.S. and Canada, awarding families up to $100 in reimbursements for hosting at least two other families raising Jewish children for Jewish-themed gatherings. Over time, we started rolling these microgrants out to more PJ Library communities across the country, with 2024 marking a milestone year during which the program became available to all PJ Library subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.
In the first half of 2025, the program received more than 5,000 applications, with a total of 15,000 families attending PJ Library Get Togethers. In the second half of 2025, the PJ Library team streamlined the program, making it even more accessible and easier to use. The microgrant relaunched in time for all PJ Library subscribers to offset Jewish New Year gathering costs, and the number of Get Togethers nearly doubled. PJ Library families hosted 8,000 Get Togethers between early September and late December 2025. That amounted to an influx of $800,000 to more than 30,000 families to “do Jewish” their way — together.
Twenty-three percent of 2025 Get Together recipients used the grants during the High Holiday season for activities such as apple tastings and sukkah decorating. Thirty-one percent used the grants to host Shabbat dinners —or, perhaps, Havdalah pizza parties — and 26 percent of Get Together reimbursements were used to celebrate the festival of lights: Hanukkah.
Other families used the grants to host Jewish book clubs, family volunteering or service projects, parents’ nights out, challah baking, Israeli dancing parties, Hebrew school class meetups, and more. Nearly 2,500 respondents hosted a Get Together for the first time, with more than 5,000 respondents coming back for more. (A family can receive a Get Together grant up to five times in a calendar year).
PJ Library’s approach with Get Together aligns with the recommendations of the 2025 Jewish Families Today report, published by Rosov Consulting, which outlines several major recommendations to funders to help them engage with non-Orthodox Jewish families, including “launch microgrant programs to empower families to create unique Jewish home experiences or to curate resources for them.” These recommendations resonate within PJ Library’s own research.
“In our most recent triennial study, we found that PJ Library has the largest impact on families that need accessible, parent-led Jewish engagement the most,” says Jessica McCormick, Director of Family Experience, PJ Library. “We know that families desire systemic scaffolding, tools that ground their children in Jewish identity, develop empathy, and help them engage with core values. That’s why PJ Library creates and offers holiday guides and web resources. But families also need the opportunity to celebrate in community. That’s where we’re seeing Get Together come into play so beautifully. We’ve provided the tools and the framework, and now we’re adding the incentive to put a Jewish experience into action.”
The program isn’t only for those who are just making their way into Jewish community. For highly engaged PJ Library subscribers, already deeply involved in Jewish life, the program provides an incentive to keep connecting Jewishly. Part of Get Together’s appeal is its flexibility: It’s available to any PJ Library subscriber, to be used for any Jewish experience, so long as there are two to 10 other Jewish families.
Connecting to community: Bergen County, New Jersey
Take, for example, the program’s impact in Bergen County, New Jersey, one of the 10 communities that participated in the Get Together pilot in 2016. The eastern side of the county, which includes Teaneck, Englewood, Tenafly, and Bergenfield, boasts upward of 25 synagogues, multiple Jewish camp offices, and several home bases for national Jewish organizations. PJ Library subscribers there predominantly identify as Orthodox and feel well connected to Jewish community. In that area, Get Together has played a key role in easing access needs, as noted by Miriam Pedler, Director of Early Childhood for the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Bergen County, and a local PJ Library program partner.
“Bergen County East has New York energy with New Jersey property taxes; it’s an expensive place to live,” says Pedler. “In our Jewish community, people value having others over for Shabbat dinner; it’s how we socialize. But kosher food is expensive, and hosting people is expensive. To be able to host gatherings in a slightly less stressful way helps our community members to take pride in their Jewish identity. It also means that for those of lesser means, it’s a chance to feel connected and like they belong.”
In fall 2025, families in Bergen County hosted 146 Get Togethers. The Get Together program gave $14,600 directly to families to hold gatherings centered around Sukkot meals, Hanukkah candle lighting, writing words of Torah about Jewish values, and even the sharing of customs between Yemenite and Ashkenazi families. Hosts shared with Pedler that it enhanced their celebrations, deepened their connection with their children, and provided incentives for welcoming others into their home.
Pedler notes that, in the Bergen County East community, people are always going to celebrate holidays, host book groups, and bake challah. But the added incentive of $100 from Get Together, Pedler says, “helps families center their gathering around a Jewish theme and motivates them to talk about what it means to have a Jewish gathering. Get Together helps keep the Jewish values front and center, intentional, and not only routine.”
Pedler says that community members have shared even more innovative ideas for Get Together events, including gatherings for single parents by choice, Jews of Color, and children with special needs. “How wonderful would it be to use Get Together money to host a Purim scavenger hunt with ample room to run and stim? When we create new avenues into Jewish engagement, we create more opportunities for Jewish belonging.”
The 2026 Get Together cycle is now open, and we encourage active PJ Library subscriber families looking to host two to 10 other Jewish families to apply. PJ Library subscribers can check their email inbox for their unique invitation or head to pjlibrary.org/gettogether to have a link resent. Not a PJ Library subscriber yet? Sign up at the same link.
