The Ohr Avner Foundation was established by Israeli entrepreneur and philanthropist Lev Leviev, his wife Olga and family in memory of Lev's father Rabbi Avner Leviev who was one of the leading members of the Bukharian Jewish community in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and later in Israel.
With the fall of Communism, in the early 1990's, Lev Leviev looked to expand his business endeavors into Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.
Upon consultation with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson of righteous memory, he received both the Rebbe's blessing for success and a request, that when he should continue the path of generosity of his parents and grandparents and thereby rebuild Jewish life in the Former Soviet republics.
With the guidance and direction of Rabbi Berel Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, and leading Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and Rabbis in the FSU, Mr. Leviev formed a partnership supporting their activities by establishing the Ohr Avner Foundation in his father's memory in 1992.
The Foundation has established and supports over seventy educational institutions in the Former Soviet Union including Jewish day schools, universities, kindergartens and camps with an enrollment of over 13,000 students.
The Ohr Avner Foundation managed by its Director Rabbi David Mondshine, supports operating expenses for 72 day schools and kindergardens in the "Ohr Avner" educational network, and supports a Resource center and Teachers training institute centralizing the educational network, under the auspices of the FJC.
Ohr Avner provides matching capital funding for new school buildings and has given major grants to new building projects of Synagogues and Jewish Community centers in dozens of cities in the FSU.
The Ohr Avner foundation provides matching funds for dozens of projects and activities, including mass holiday campaigns such as funding 500 Passover Seders and distribution throughout the FSU of two million pounds of Matzah for Passover, and 40 over night winter and summer camps serving 10,000 children annually.
The Central office of Ohr Avner provides logistical support for more than 100 Rabbis and their families serving across the FSU, and generously give a monthly budget for programming and activities in more them 80 cities in the Former Soviet Union.
The central office of the Foundation also sponsors and organizes conferences and seminars for schools, community leaders and Rabbis in order to help them constantly upgrade and professionalize their institutions and activities.
The Ohr Avner Foundation is the largest benefactor of Jewish life in the Former Soviet Union, while also supporting numerous schools for Russian immigrants in Israel, the United States and Europe.
To view the Ohr Avner web site in Russian please
Click here.
