Avi Chai

By: Mark S. Young Photo (left): Campers at Camp Young Judaea singing Hatikva before a BBQ. Photo by Foundation for Jewish Camp. “A Hillel Dinner: fun! A youth group or Birthright trip to Israel: way fun! Returning to Jewish sleep away camp: the most fun ever!” Jewish experiences outside the classroom are often referred to as places where Judaism is “fun.” Although this is true, it can lead to two dangerous corollaries: One, that any … Read More »

LEFT: Jewish Educators gather in a Birds of the Feather meeting at ISTE The ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Conference, one of the world’s premier educational technology events, attracts between 15,000- 20,000 attendees each year. For the past two years, AVI CHAI has sponsored the attendance of 10 Jewish day school leaders in North America per year (including heads of school, principals, deans, rosh yeshivas, directors of educational technology, etc.). These AVI CHAI … Read More »

By: Jill Goldenberg Celebrating my 50th (!) birthday recently gave me a great opportunity to do a lot of eating and celebrating – and reflecting. For each of the 50 days before my big day, I kept a journal (OK, it was an excel spreadsheet) where I noted at least one thing in my life for which I was grateful. On my birthday, I read it over and found several themes. Unsurprisingly, most dominant was … Read More »

Cross-posted in eJewishPhilanthropy By: Harry Bloom Much of my time is being spent “in the trenches” helping Jewish day schools develop active strategies to increase their sustainability. Our team is immersed in the intense but satisfying and productive work of analyzing nearly 40 schools’ comparative revenue and spending patterns (using financial “benchmarking”) comparing them to their peers, and helping them develop and implement plans to generate more revenue and reduce expenses – without reducing quality … Read More »

By: Joshua Fattal On June 11th at the Park Avenue Synagogue, one generation taught and inspired the next as Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel spoke with a panel of seven students and graduates of Write On For Israel, an advocacy through journalism project of The Jewish Week. Professor Wiesel told the audience that we must always remember that we are all witnesses to history, and must act cautiously in kind. He explained to us that we … Read More »

By: Susan Folkman BASIS (the Bay Area Schools Israel Synergy Initiative), an initiative funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation since 2008, strives to bring Jewish students and their families closer to Israel and to strengthen the connection of our youth to Israel and the Jewish people by making Israel a core part of every school’s academic program and culture. AVI CHAI commissioned a report on BASIS to identify the program components that seem to be … Read More »