Kids enjoy coming once a week and reading in a calm environment and borrowing a book or two. Especially on cold or rainy days. Full Story
March 13, 2024 – 3 Adar II 5784
Kids enjoy coming once a week and reading in a calm environment and borrowing a book or two. Especially on cold or rainy days. Full Story
After Mushki Silverstein’s father, Rabbi Shmuel Rodal a”h, passed away, she knew she wanted to do something in his honor. “His literal life Shlichus was chinuch and he had real Mesiras Nefesh for it”, she says. It was on her mind often. Then, one morning on her way back from carpooling the kids to school, she turned on the Inside Out Podcast. The episode started with a bio about the sponsor, the Jewish Children’s Library Fund. She listened as they shared:
“As far back as she can remember, Chaya remembers her father’s desktop shtender. It was always covered with taped on scraps of paper with his favorite Hayom Yom quotes. One of his favorites was from the 22nd of Tevet which includes “it is an absolute duty for every person to spend a half hour every day thinking about the Torah-education of children.”
“Now that her father is k”ah a Zeidy with many grandkids, and he sees what is out there to distract kids these days, this Hayom Yom has prompted him to take action. He created the Jewish Children’s Library Fund to help start Jewish Children’s Libraries within communities all over the United States. They specifically want to create children’s libraries in a community member’s home, so that there is a separate location, besides for school or shul, to get another taste of Jewish pride. They offer matching grants and a database to get your library started.”
As soon as Mushki heard this, she just knew this is what she had to do. She had always wanted to start a library and this would be the perfect thing to do in memory of her father. She contacted the JCLF right away!
Five weeks later, she was ready to open her doors to the Beis Shmuel Library of Pomona! Mushki was entering the last few books into the database provided by the Jewish Children’s Library Fund while thinking about what she could say during her speech on opening day. As she picked up the next book, she realized it was a Hayom Yom book for kids. She decided to open it up and look up the date for the opening day. She sat back in Hashgacha Pratis shock when she realized the Hayom Yom was for the 22nd of Teves. The exact hayom yom that prompted the JCLF to start their organization!
But Mushki isn’t the only one to open a Jewish Children’s Library with the help of the Jewish Children’s Library Fund. The Jewish Children’s Library of Coral Springs, Florida run by the Hecht Family was the very first library the JCLF helped get off the ground. “The library fund helped us start our library for our community and keep it growing. Once we had books, people were more willing to donate and add to our library. We now have almost 3 thousand books- and this is all thanks to the library fund that got us started!”, says Raizy Hecht.
Chaya Wilmowsky and Devorah Weinberg opened their library MNYY Kingston Library in Kingston, PA in August of 2023 with the help of the JCLF. “Kids enjoy coming once a week and reading in a calm environment and borrowing a book or two. Especially on cold or rainy days, having somewhere to go with interesting books that they don’t have at home is a wonderful resource for kids and a help for parents”, says Chaya.
If you are interested in opening a Jewish Children’s Library for your community just like Mushki, Chaya, Raizy, and Devorah, please visit www.JewishChildrensLibraryFund.com and fill out the application under “Start a Library”.
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Go Mushki
March 13, 2024 6:51 pm
Great library and we love the animals and chickens
Great library and we love the animals and chickens