The Avi Chai Foundation is a private foundation endowed in 1984 by Zalman Bernstein, a well-known successful investor and founder of Sanford Bernstein. Zalman Bernstein became a Modern Orthodox Baal teshuva (a returnee to Orthodox observance) who wished to further the cause of outreach to alienated and assimilated Jews worldwide. Avi Chai allocates resources in the United States and in Israel. Until 2003, Avi Chai functioned in Russia and other former Soviet Union countries.