When Sara Kibel, the Deputy Director of PJ Library in the U.K. set up her PJ Library stall at the European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC) Summit this past week, she was overrun by eager attendees. “Participants flocked to the PJ Library stand; I couldn’t unpack fast enough!”
The ECJC, in partnership with the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and global partners has convened its Summit for Jewish Leaders every three years since 2015. This year 250 professionals representing more than 30 countries, met in Athens, Greece.
The theme of the 2026 Summit was “Shaping Bridges, Shaping Futures, and Lighting the Way Forward.” The goal was to take a step back from crises such as antisemitism, security concerns, and demographic changes and to engage key leaders from communal, educational, and social welfare perspectives in conversation toward a shared goal of building a vibrant Jewish future.
PJ Library's session, entitled “Jewish Identity Begins at Home: Strengthening Families, Shaping the Future,” focused on families raising young children and emphasized that Jewish resilience does not emerge spontaneously but is cultivated through experiences of Jewish joy that foster strong, positive identity.
Drawing on global triennial research and work with families in the U.K., the session highlighted the central role of early family engagement in shaping long-term Jewish continuity.
A recent U.K. 2024 Triennial Survey found that 82 percent of PJ Library parents use the books to introduce Judaism or Jewish topics to their children. And 95 percent say PJ Library increased their children’s knowledge of or familiarity with Jewish traditions, values, and customs.
The experience of Paula, a Jewish PJ mom in Belfast, supports this data. Paula credits PJ Library with giving her daughter — who is not in a Jewish school — a crucial connection to Jewish traditions, one that she would not have otherwise. Thanks to the explanatory flaps at the front and back of PJ Library books, Paula has been able to learn alongside her child, thereby strengthening the Jewish identity of her whole family.
For ECJC participant, Paula Melamed of the Jewish Community in Spain, which launched PJ Library in 2018, learning more about the importance of building Jewish identity at home renewed her motivation to support parents in her community.
“What I learned from PJ Library’s presentation is that when we trust parents as educators, we are not adding to their role, we’re building on the influence they already have. Education at home is not about having all the answers. It is about creating a space where curiosity, identity, and belonging are lived every day.”
And perhaps this is the essence of resilience: the strength to live our Jewish identities with joy and courage. It was a central theme of the Sixth annual ECJC Summit, and this year, PJ Library helped bring that message home.
