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Betsy Katz Recipient of First Avi Chai Fellowship
The recipients of the new AVI CHAI Fellowship were introduced this week at a press conference in New York City at the offices of the AVI CHAI Foundation. Dr. Betsy Dolgin Katz, North American Director of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School was one of them, placing the quality and expanse of The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School in the spotlight. The AVI CHAI Foundation announced that it is allocating up to $1.15 million over the course of the next three years to four individuals and one team of two whom it has selected as the first recipients of the AVI CHAI Fellowship.
The other AVI CHAI Fellows are:
- Ariel Beery
- Aharon Horwitz
- Rabbi Elie Kaunfer
- Rabbi Dov Linzer
- Rabbi Menachem Schmidt
The AVI CHAI Fellowship is unique and constitutes the largest cash award to emerging communal and educational leaders within the North American Jewish community. It has been approved for three award cycles with a financial commitment of approximately $3 million.
The recipients of the AVI CHAI Fellowship were selected from an initial pool of more than 40 nominations that were submitted by twenty nominators (18 located in the United States and 2 in Israel). The seven members of the selection committee met privately over the course of four months. During this time, the AVI CHAI Fellowship was kept under wraps and the nominators and selections committee remained anonymous so that the integrity of the nomination and selection process not be compromised.
Only when the pool was winnowed down to seven nominees was their involvement solicited. The winners were informed of their achievement in late April.
Each of the AVI CHAI Fellows has demonstrated a track record of commitment towards these ends and although the award - $75K per fellow or team per year – will go towards their proposed activities, the purpose of the AVI CHAI Fellowship is to advance and promote the individual winners as important forces in building a vital American Jewish future build upon these values.
The AVI CHAI Foundation occupies a singular spot in North American Jewish life, defining its goals as fostering high levels of Jewish Literacy; deepening Religious Purposefulness and promoting Jewish Peoplehood and deeper connections to the State of Israel, all goals shared by The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School.
“The AVI CHAI Fellowship is intended to be a vehicle for investing in people with vision, creativity, courage, savvy and stamina to try new things, to think outside the conventional boxes or inside them in new ways, and to see opportunities where others see obstacles,” explains Arthur Fried, AVI CHAI’s Chairman. Dr. Katz will be writing a book on her experiences in adult Jewish learning against the backdrop of the North American Jewish community.
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