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<\/a><\/p>\nThe late singer’s program sending free books to children inspired Harold Grinspoon to found PJ Library, which gets Jewish books into the hands of Jewish families. (The Dollywood Foundation)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In Jewish circles, she was also remembered as the inspiration for PJ Library, a program that sends free children\u2019s books to Jewish families in order to foster Jewish values and traditions.<\/p>\n
In 2015, when Harold Grinspoon launched PJ Library, he took a page from Parton, who a decade earlier had started Imagination Library, a literacy program that mails free children\u2019s books to families across the U.S.<\/p>\n
After hearing Parton interviewed about the program, Grinspoon, a philanthropist in and out of the Jewish community, signed on as a sponsor of the Imagination Library in Western Massachusetts, where he lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should create a Jewish version of Imagination Library,\u201d said Grinspoon, according to a 2023 recollection by his daughter-in-law and president of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, Winnie Sandler Grinspoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold was looking for ways to build Jewish literacy,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHe was witnessing a lack of connection to the values, stories, and traditions that have been at the center of the Jewish experience for millennia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two decades later, PJ Library has more than 670,000 subscribers in 40 countries.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, in a tribute to Parton, PJ Library and the Harold Grinspoon Foundation recalled a meeting between the two in 2023. According to an Instagram post, \u201cshe shared the following with him: \u2018I am honored to get to help inspire a love of reading in children. They truly are our future.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold remembers Dolly as \u2018a truly amazing person \u2014 not only a great artist, but a great entrepreneur and philanthropist,\u201d according to the post. \u201cWe honor Dolly for educating millions, for her remarkable career, her kindness, her art, and especially her generosity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am honored to get to help inspire a love of reading in children. They truly are our future,\u201d Dolly Parton told Harold Grinspoon, founder of the PJ Library, when the two met in 2023. (Courtesy Harold Grinspoon Foundation)
\n\u201cDolly\u2019s generosity of spirit extended far beyond inspiring the creation of PJ Library,\u201d Alex Zablotsky, PJ Library\u2019s executive director, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.<\/p>\n
Parton drew inspiration for her art and philanthropy from her hardscrabble roots in rural Tennessee. She was one of 12 kids growing up in a one-room log cabin in the Smoky Mountains. Parton\u2019s father never learned how to read or write.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis actually started because my father could not read and write, and I saw how crippling that could be,\u201d Parton said of the Imagination Library at a ceremony where she was awarded a Carnegie Medal for her partnership with a pediatric hospital in East Tennessee, now named for Parton.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad was a very smart man. And I often wondered what he could have done had he been able to read and write. So that is the inspiration,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Parton had a close bond with other Jews, notably Sandy Gallin, the manager who guided her from Nashville to mainstream pop stardom, according to the Forward.<\/p>\n
When Gallin died in 2017, Parton said, \u201cNobody could quite get how the Christian Southern girl and the New York Jewish boy could have so much in common. But it was real.\u201d<\/p>\n
One trouble spot, however, came in a 1994 interview with Vogue Magazine, when Parton mused about starting a television series about a country singer who turns to gospel music. She gave up the idea, she said, because \u201cmost of the people out here [Hollywood] are Jewish and it\u2019s frightening for them to promote Christianity.\u201d<\/p>\n
She later apologized in a letter to Abe Foxman, then head of the Anti-Defamation League, JTA reported at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know how stereotypes can be hurtful,\u201d she wrote. \u201cLike all Americans of good will, I recognize the importance of rejecting prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxman accepted her apology. \u201cWhatever she said was unfortunate, and she recognizes that,\u2019\u201d Foxman told The New York Times. \u201cI know it\u2019s not easy for celebrities to publicly say they made a mistake. As far as we are concerned, the matter is behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Laura Liebman, director of development for The Bronfman Fellowship for young Jewish leaders, paid tribute to the singer, who was a feminist and an ally of the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n
\u201cDolly somehow managed to transcend race, class, religion, politics and gender,\u201d Liebman wrote in an essay for eJewishPhilanthropy. \u201cAs the Jewish community becomes increasingly siloed, we could all learn from Dolly\u2019s radical acceptance and show more love and compassion for our fellow Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n