Mort Mandel: Giving Gives Means to Life
by Fani Magnus
Monson
 Philanthropist extraordinaire Mort Mandel grew up in a home where helping
others was a given. Even though his family didn’t have a great deal of money,
there was always enough to share with someone in need. “Someone needed
to have her refrigerator fixed,” Mandel recalled, “and my mother [gave her the
money and] said, ‘Someday you’ll do me a favor.’ She never made a loan.”
Mandel and his brothers took their mother’s example to heart. As soon as they
started making more than they needed in their auto-parts business, they formed
a foundation. “We gave back really two ways,” Mandel said. In addition to financial
donations, “we’ve given of ourselves. We’ve taken volunteer assignments since
we’re young adults. Our involvement in the larger community has added a lot of
meaning to our lives. Giving back has been one of the most important reasons
that I feel comfortable with myself. I do it because that’s how I define myself.”
Mandel is a former chair of JCC Association and the impetus behind the Mandel
Center for Jewish Education and the Mandel Center for Excellence in Leadership
and Management, with each Center receiving an annual grant of $500,000.
Mandel refers to these as “evergreen grants”— enabling the two centers to know
that their funding is ongoing, so they can plan ahead to have maximum impact.
MCELM was formed to ensure that the JCC
Movement develops the highly qualified
lay and professional leaders it needs to
guide complex institutions such as JCCs.
Through its Benchmarking Project and other
services, the Mandel Center for Excellence
in Leadership and Management has become
the go-to place for JCCs wanting to be the
best they can be.
The Mandel Center for Jewish Education’s
mission is to infuse Jewish learning into
JCCs and camps. Through camp curriculum
such as TAG: Jewish Values through JCC Camping®, thousands of Jewish children
absorb Jewish values during their camp experience. Other foundations see the
value of the mission, funding Mandel Center programs such as The AVI CHAI
Foundation-funded Lekhu Lakhem: Jewish Educational Journeys for JCC Resident
Camp Directors, which transforms camp directors into Jewish educators. Another
AVI CHAI initiative, Chizuk, brings Jewish educators to resident camps. The
Goodman Family Institute-Yisrael Sheli, provides intense Israel education to highschool-
age resident campers.
Mandel believes that Jewish Community Centers are integral to Jewish life in
North America. “I’ve stayed with JCC Association longer than I’ve stayed with
any other organization” he said. “I’m also involved with the JCCs in Cleveland
and Palm Beach. By establishing and continuing to fund the two JCC Association
Mandel Centers, our foundation is accomplishing two of our most important goals:
strengthening the quality of leadership in the JCC Movement and strengthening
Jewish identities throughout the Jewish community. We are seeing a great return
on our investment.”
The AVI CHAI Foundation awards
a new grant to the Mandel Center
for Jewish Education
A grant of $175,000 has just been awarded to the Mandel Center for
Jewish Education to implement a new cohort of the Lekhu Lakhem alumni
program called Netivim. In awarding the grant, Yossi Prager, executive
director of AVI CHAI North America, said, “AVI CHAI is delighted to be the
Center’s partner in this program, which has demonstrated its success in
strengthening the Judaic programming at participating JCC overnight
summer camps.”
Since its inception, directors and assistant directors from 18 of the 26 JCC
Movement-affiliated resident camps have participated in Lekhu Lakhem.
“With this new grant,” says Dr. David Ackerman, director of the Mandel
Center for Jewish Education, “we are seeing these directors continuing into
their fourth or fifth year of ongoing Jewish learning and leadership. It’s
having an enormous impact on Jewish life and learning in our camps.”
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