A Literacy Program for Children in Israel Adapts to the Realities of Wartime

During my visit to Israel this summer I participated in a week-long travel seminar sponsored by the Florence Melton School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the main objective of which was to enable participants to meet Israelis and discuss in depth their experiences in the ongoing war. I also met with two directors of Keren Grinspoon Israel (KGI), an organization that offers two literacy programs for Israeli children living in Israel between one and eight years of age. One, ‘Sifriyat Pijama’ (‘Pajama Library’), are books in Hebrew for children who speak Hebrew, the other ‘Maktabat al-Fanoos,’ (‘Lantern Library’) are books in Arabic for children who speak Arabic.[1] Inbal Tofach, the Director of SP, explained to me that these books aim to comprise a “cultural institution” based on “harvesting Israeli values” though not driven by politics or religion.[2]  Both were developed by PJ Library, their north American parent company, founded in 2005 by philanthropist Harold Grinspoon for the purpose of distributing children’s books on Jewish values and traditions throughout North America. In recent years PJ Library has become prominent within the international community, donating millions of books in several languages to more than forty countries around the globe.

KGI’s ‘Sifriyat Pijama’ (SP) exercises a powerful influence on children being educated in Israel today, and here I discuss the ways in which its books reflect wartime situations that the country has recently had to confront. My perspective on these books is informed both by my recent visit to Israel as well as by my previous residence in Israel as a high school student in Haifa and as a student in a kibbutz ulpan.

Some of the SP books were already written by iconic authors, including Ora Ayal, Jonathan Gefen, David Grossman, Alona Frenkel, Ayan Hillel, and Meir Shalev. Others are original manuscripts in Hebrew by established authors or independent writers, while fewer are from other countries and translated from their original language into Hebrew. A total of 2.3 million SP books are being distributed to nearly 350,000 children and roughly 10,000 religious and public schools throughout Israel.[3] Teachers read and study them with the children for a week or two, before the children take them home to share with their families and friends. Thus, the objective of carrying over content and ideas from school to home is critical and implies that these textual contents are not only part of a curriculum but also very much valued as they move from an educational to a personal setting.

The book selection committees are comprised of representatives from PJ Library, religious and secular groups, and various experts on children’s literature and literacy. Israel’s Ministry of Education is a major funding partner of KGI and must approve of the SP books prior to distribution. [4] Arbel gave me a few of the SP books, including Mirik Snir’s All Kinds of Animals and Me, which is for toddlers and centers on songs and animals, and Havvah Deevon’s Nevo and His Mask, which is for primary-school children and evokes the Jewish holiday of Purim and ways in which costumes being used for Purim can “hide, disclose, and help friends reconnect.”[5] Its focus how on tradition of disguise during this holiday ensures a way of strengthening relationships. Arbel and Tofach also emphasize that the annual selection of books involves an awareness of gender orientation, familial structures, and religious attitudes. With regard to gender and family, for example, some families may have two fathers, others one mother, or a mother and a father. To address concerns about how to present such diversified familial structures, on occasion SP uses animals rather than people to depict characters. While the SP program has experience with adapting content so as to conform to established cultural norms, its book selection committees must confront the exciting yet also daunting tasks of selecting titles that are appropriate for both the public and the religious schools.

In the aftermath of the massacre of October 7^th, the SP program illustrates exceptional versatility by immediately ensuring that children will have access to their books during wartime. Arbel reports that on October 8^th SP began donating books to bomb shelters and evacuation centers, to ensure that reading materials would be readily available to children. She also explained that some of the activity kits accompanying certain books prior to October 7^th depicted home settings and following this date were republished so as to depict settings in shelters. Given these difficult times Arbel and Tofach would like for the next cycle of SP books to center on the concept of “soft resilience.”[6] Arbel writes of this notion that:

[It] touches upon the challenges caused by the war and tries to enter the social-emotional world of the child but not in a direct manner. Through our books and activities we want to provide opportunity to delicately—meaning, not in a way that is obvious to the child—open a conversation, for example, about fear, loss, and other challenges raised by the war.[7]  Indeed, for the much younger children especially, notions of soft resilience may be conveyed by short, pithy tales in which characters are able to overcome obstacles and learn from them, or by metaphors or allegories that illustrate the meaning of resilience. These books provide ‘notes to parents’ so that they can consider in advance ways in which themes and topics addressed in the books might connect with the emotional and social worlds of the child.[8]

As SP develops “soft resilience” thematically it might also consider the attitudes of the children who survived the October 7^th massacre. For example, at Kibbutz Mishmar Ha’emek, Oshrit Sabag, an evacuee from Kibbutz Nahal Oz who is currently living on Kibbutz Mishmar Ha’emek, discussed her recovery from the trauma of October 7th. As both a survivor of the Nahal Oz massacre and an educator, Sabag discussed the psychological challenges that children from Nachal Oz have faced since the 7th. She explained that some of these children were orphaned when their parents were murdered, while others witnessed first-hand trauma, such as kidnappings of friends or family members. She discussed activities that aim to help these children recover, such as art and music therapy; horseback riding; visiting animal kennels; water activities, and spending time by ponds and streams in order to obtain a sense of serenity.[9] She also refers to these as “pilot project activities,” implying that the tragedy of and recovery from this day are unique to Israel and that the younger people who witnessed this trauma firsthand are in an ongoing process of coming to terms with it. Perhaps these “pilot project activities” could foster the creation of books reflecting ways for young survivors to heal from traumas they witnessed on that tragic day.

One might also consider the notion of “soft resilience” in literature for young children in relation to ‘protecting’ the state of Israel as a Jewish state and a democracy. In a recent oral history interview that I conducted with Itzhak “Chico” Hazrati, a commander in the Israeli Defense Forces and father of six children, I learned that the challenges of protecting Israel now and in the future are a fundamental preoccupation of his everyday life:

I know what war is. My father fought in the Six Day War, I fought in both Intifadas, I recently returned from Gaza, where I was for several months, and soon I will go to Lebanon, to fight for Israel’s survival, once again. I also know that my children’s lives will involve defending Israel and our people.[10] Hazrati’s comment also reflects a generational commitment to fighting for survival as a means of protecting his country as an ongoing form of resilience.

In a similar vein, last month Zaka Search and Rescue volunteer Nurith Cohn indicated that tensions from the Israel-Hamas war reflect earlier times and carry over to the next generation. She describes October 7^th as a “kind of catastrophe that is old news, that we [we Israelis] know it to our core, and we know this drill, and our kids know it, too.”[11] Both Hazrati and Cohn express the importance of keeping Israel from harm’s way, as if this paramount concern is inherent in the culture of the country. The cultural aspects of these comments could also be aligned with Tofach’s idea of “harvesting Israeli values”. It would therefore be no surprise if SP were to develop books featuring topics emphasizing the protection of Israel.

To sum up, as a literary cultural institution in Israel, ‘Sifriyat Pijama’ is in a very strong position to produce narratives that reflect the current situation in Israel and attitudes toward this. The aftermath of the tragedy of October 7^th is a new chapter for Israel as a nation and for its young readers, who read and tell stories of individual loss and collective loss. As new manuscripts in Hebrew for children appear, new thematic emphases will emerge, as they so often do. As Sifriyat Pijama continues to adapt its literary works to address the ongoing circumstances of wartime, religion and politics may also, however subtly, find thematic expression in the books it publishes.

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[1]  ‘Sifriyat Pijama’ recently celebrated fifteen years of its establishment and ‘Maktabat al-Fanoos’ has existed for ten years. For more detailed information on both programs and data with regard to KGI being the largest distributor of children’s books in Israel, see this link from Haaretz: https://shorturl.at/hPqgO. For more information on PJ Library: https://pjlibrary.org/about-pj-library.

[2] Inbal Tofach, Monday, June 17, 2024. The office of Keren Grinspoon Institute, Ramat Gan, Israel.

[3] This data is from an email exchange that I had with Andrea Arbel on July 7, 2024.

[4] Andrea Arbel, Monday, June 17, 2024. The office of Keren Grinspoon Institute, Ramat Gan, Israel. Arbel explained that the books of ‘Maktabat al-Fanoos’ are centered on “universal values”, not related to Judaism necessarily. Instead, they are geared toward Arab Israelis and the texts themselves have been translated into Arabic from other languages. I was disappointed to learn that Gaza would not accept these books, nor would Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, or Syria. We did not discuss whether other Arabic countries were offered these books.

[5] For more information on Nevo and His Mask, see this link: https://eng.pjisrael.org/.

[6] Arbel and Tofach, Monday, June 17, 2024. The office of Keren Grinspoon Institute, Ramat Gan, Israel.

[7] Arbel discusses soft resilience in an email to me, July 7, 2024.

[8] Arbel and Tofach, Monday, June 17, 2024.

[9] Oshrit Sabag, presentation at Kibbutz Mishmar Ha’emek, June 20, 2024. During her presentation Sabag said that it took several months for some of the older children to discuss what they witnessed during the massacre of October 7, because they were so traumatized. She said that in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy they were very confused and sometimes wandered at night, and questioned how to continue to live, when they were among so many who died.

[10] Itzhak “Chico” Hazrati. I conducted an oral history interview with Mr. Hazrati at his home in Ariel, Israel. June 16, 2024.

[11] Nurith Cohn discussed this during her presentation at an office of Zaka Search and Rescue. Beit Shemesh, Israel, June 23, 2024.