Yesterday, I received an email from Federation Board Member, Rabbi Kevin Hale which said, “I just looked over the Moment Magazine 50 Jewish Innovators of the last 50 years and delighted and proud that two of these magnificent visionaries Harold Grinspoon and Aaron Lansky are from right here” [in the Pioneer Valley].
I reflected on Kevin’s words on how lucky we are to have such innovators within our midst here in Western Mass (and in our state). We hope you enjoy reading about them here and in the links provided.
Real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist Harold Grinspoon has spent close to four decades transforming the landscape of both Jewish and secular life through his vision of "return on investment" philanthropy. In 1991, he established the Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) in Western Mass, with a mission to strengthen Jewish identity and community. His most iconic creation, PJ Library, launched in 2005 by sending Jewish-themed books to 200 children in the Pioneer Valley; today, it is a global phenomenon, distributing over seven million books annually to families in more than 40 countries.
His endowment for future generations is perhaps best seen in the national Life & Legacy program, which has secured over $1 billion in after-lifetime legacy commitments, ensuring that Jewish organizations across North America remain financially sustainable for decades to come. His JCamp 180 initiative provides $4,000,000 a year in support to 108 North American Jewish camps.
Right here, in Western Massachusetts, Grinspoon’s impact is uniquely dual-faceted, bridging the Jewish and secular communities. While he provides substantial operating funding for local Jewish day schools, Jewish professional development and summer camp experiences he also founded the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation to serve the broader Pioneer Valley. This secular arm supports the Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Awards which has honored over 2,000 local educators, the Local Farmer Awards provide critical infrastructure grants to sustain the region's farming heritage, the Starlight program that provide books to 10,000 local preschool students, and programs like ener-G-save and Cooler Communities that promote energy efficiency and climate education.
Here at the Jewish Endowment Foundation, Grinspoon and his wife, Diane Troderman have created nine endowments for the benefit of the Western Massachusetts Jewish community. At the end of 2025, those nine funds had a total of $3,850,000.
Grinspoon’s legacy extends far beyond Massachusetts. In Israel, his foundation operates Sifriyat Pijama and its Arabic-language counterpart, Maktabat al-Fanoos, which together reach hundreds of thousands of children, fostering literacy and shared values. His commitment to the future was solidified in 2015 when he joined Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in signing The Giving Pledge, a public promise to dedicate the majority of his wealth to philanthropy. By merging his business acumen with a deep sense of tzedakah, Grinspoon has created a blueprint for active, intergenerational giving that ensures his influence will be felt by the "unseen heroes" of the Pioneer Valley and Jewish families worldwide for generations.
Today, at 96 years of age, Harold still goes to the office, has an active hand in the day to day operations of the Grinspoon Foundation, and continues to enhance and define Jewish life in the Pioneer Valley, across the country, in Israel, and throughout the world.
We could never properly thank Harold Grinspoon for what he has created, supported, and enhanced our Jewish world.
In 1980, as a 24-year-old graduate student, Aaron Lansky launched what many considered a "quixotic" mission to rescue Yiddish literature from extinction. Realizing that younger generations—unable to read the language of their ancestors—were discarding Yiddish books by the thousands, Lansky founded the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. While experts initially estimated only 70,000 volumes remained to be found, Lansky and a global network of volunteers known as zamlers (collectors) recovered that amount in just six months. Ultimately, his efforts saved more than 1.5 million volumes, a feat recognized with a MacArthur "Genius" Grant and documented in his memoir, Outwitting History.
Today, the Yiddish Book Center has evolved from a simple repository into a vibrant cultural powerhouse right here in the Valley. Beyond its physical collection, the Center has digitized over 11,000 titles through the Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library, resulting in millions of free downloads worldwide. It serves the present and future through Educational Outreach: Intensive Yiddish language courses, the Steiner Summer Internship for college students, and the "Great Jewish Books" program for high schoolers. Translation & Publishing: The "White Goat Press" and various fellowship programs work to translate the roughly 98% of Yiddish literature that remains inaccessible to English readers. And Cultural Revitalization with programs like Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music and maintains the Wexler Oral History Project, which preserves over 1,400 personal narratives.
And there were other innovators mentioned with a significant Massachusetts connection in the article including Jonathan Sarna, a longtime professor at Brandeis University in Waltham (now emeritus), Sarna is described as the scholar who shaped the modern understanding of American Jewish history; Anita Diamant, Massachusetts-based author who founded Mayim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh in Newton in 2001, which transformed the ritual of the mikvah into a more inclusive experience; Rabbi Albert Axelrad who served as the chaplain at Brandeis University in the 1970s, where he pioneered the tradition of adult bar and bat mitzvahs; Leonard Fein, the co-founder of Moment Magazine where he was a prominent writer and activist based in Boston. He founded Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger and was a significant figure in the local and national Jewish community; Barry Shrage, the longtime president of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies(CJP) of Greater Boston. He is recognized for redesigning Jewish Federations and making Jewish education a core mission of communal giving; Ruth Wisse, a prominent scholar and professor of Yiddish Literature and Comparative Literature at Harvard University (now emerita); Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, although associated with Yeshiva University in New York, he lived in Brookline for much of his life and founded the Maimonides School there, which remains a cornerstone of the New England Jewish community; and Gail Twersky Reimer, founder of the [jwa.org]Jewish Women’s Archive, a national non-profit organization headquartered in Brookline that documents the history of Jewish women in North America.
These innovators in our midst have inspired us and many will continue to inspire us in the years to come.
