AVI CHAI funded two cohorts of Lekhu Lakhem, a Jewish education and mentoring program for Jewish Community Center Association (JCCA) overnight camp directors. In 2002, acknowledging the need to enhance the Jewish education provided by their camps and community centers, the JCCA created the Center for Jewish Education (CJE) within its organization. The goals of Lekhu Lakhem, a project of CJE, were to make JCC camps more Jewishly educational by preparing camp directors to see themselves as Jewish educational leaders. Evaluations have demonstrated that the program is having a significant impact on camp directors and in many cases a noticeable effect at camp as well.
This elite program explored issues of educational philosophy, Jewish vision and educational leadership through multi-day seminars, text-based discussion sessions, individual mentoring, and a two-week seminar in Israel. AVI CHAI is currently funding a program for Lekhu Lakhem‘s alumni called Netivim.