Jewish Publication Society - Mitzvah Projects

Mitzvah Projects

From its earliest beginning in the late 19th century, JPS was committed to giving away a portion of its books to those in need.

In February 2005, JPS discovered that Jews entering American military service were offered only the Christian Bible as their “standard-issue Bible.” JPS responded by partnering with the Jewish Welfare Board and launching the JPS Mitzvah Project Campaign to raise money to send free copies of the JPS Torah and Book of Psalms to Jewish service personnel around the world.

Since launching its Mitzvah Project for the military, JPS has received requests for books from communities around the world. And so it expanded its program to meet their needs as well. JPS has sent books for free to nonprofit organizations, prisons, hospitals, Christian seminaries, and Jewish day schools in North America, Israel, and Europe, as well as to underserved Jewish synagogues in Ghana, Nigeria, China, India, and South America.

JPS’s goal for 2010 is to reach at least 50 communities with at least 5,000 pounds of free JPS books.

Past Mitzvah Project recipients include:

Projects in the United States:

• Aleph Institute, Northeast Regional Headquarters
• Jewish Women International
• JWB Jewish Chaplains Council
• VA Hospitals and Nursing Homes in Miami, FL, Phoenix, AZ, and Bremerton, WA
• American Seminary for Contemporary Judaism
• Synagogues, schools, and community centers in need across the country

Projects abroad:

• Jews of Nigeria
• Lemba of Northern South Africa and Botswana
• Sefwi Jewish Synagogue, Ghana
• Abayudaya, Uganda
• Shandong University Book Project, China
• Bnei Menashe, India
• The Jade Bar Shalom Books for Israel Project
• Seminario Rabinico, Argentina
• Bristol Jewish Society, University of Bristol and University of Western England