Jewish Life
Jewishness, Your Way
Our mission is to offer diverse pathways and opportunities for our members to connect to Jewish knowledge, tradition, and values in a personally meaningful way.
Watch a movie by a Jewish film-maker, participate in a Israeli dance class or learn how to shape challah with your child – make connections in ways that matter to you and your family.
Jewish Events Calendar
Jewish Arts + Culture
Lane Dworkin Rochester Jewish Book Festival
We celebrate the written word brought to us by Jewish authors and books with Jewish content.
Each year we seek the very best authors and books to provide a window to the Jewish experience and give our community members the opportunity to engage with the person behind the book while discovering what inspires the author in his or her creative work.
Ames Amzalak Rochester Jewish Film Festival
The JCC established the Ames Amzalak Rochester Jewish Film Festival to present the best contemporary Jewish-themed films from around the world to the Rochester community.
RJFF exists to promote awareness and pride in the diversity of all people; to strengthen community consciousness of Jewish identity, history and culture; to provide a forum for community gatherings that allows valuable dialogue; and to create an international showcase for filmmakers who are Jewish or whose work explores Jewish themes.
PJ Library
The Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Rochester, with a generous grant from the Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation, are proud to present PJ Library in Rochester! PJ Library provides a free gift of a high-quality, age appropriate Jewish book mailed to the home every month. This cutting-edge program created by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation provides the means for Jewish families to give children the gift of Jewish literacy, a love for literature, music and art. PJ Library is for children birth to age 9.
Since Harold Grinspoon first sent Jewish books to 200 children in Western Massachusetts in 2005, PJ Library has grown to send free books to more than 230,000 subscribers throughout the United States and Canada. Today, PJ Library is an expanding global community linked by shared stories and values that spans five continents and has more than 670,000 subscribers.
- ‘Like’ Facebook.com/PJLibraryRochester to get regular updates on PJ Library programming in the community.
- As kids age out of PJ Library they have an opportunity to sign up for a program just for tweens – PJ Our Way (PJOW). PJ Our Way offers the gift of exceptional books with Jewish themes to kids ages 8½-12 – books that they choose themselves!
- Learn about “Shalom PJ Baby,” welcoming new babies into the Rochester Jewish community.
- Sign up for PJ today! For more information, contact PJ Library Manager & Family Engagement Specialist Biffy Borg. For more information about PJ Library, go to www.pjlibrary.org.
“Just as my ancestors planted trees for me, I plant trees for my children.”
Honi the Circle Maker