Jared Kushner's 28-year-old protégé is his right-hand man in the White House

Kushner, then a young real-estate mogul from New Jersey, took a liking to Berkowitz, who, like Kushner, was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home in the New York City suburbs.

At the time, neither could have predicted that a few years later, Kushner, now a senior adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, would be one of the most powerful people in the country and Berkowitz his right-hand man.

Berkowitz, 28, is in many ways Kushner's protégé, following him to Kushner Companies, then to Trump's campaign, and now to the West Wing. Both Ivy League-educated lawyers, they have matching dispositions and similar worldviews influenced by their Jewish schooling and deep ties to Israel, according to several of Berkowitz's friends who spoke with Business Insider. Berkowitz reflects a larger trend in a White House staffed by friends and family of a president who prizes loyalty and deprioritizes political experience.

Through a White House representative, Berkowitz declined to be interviewed for this story.

The Road to the White House

Berkowitz was not known for harboring particularly strong political beliefs before he joined Trump's campaign. A friend of Berkowitz's who met him in Israel and later roomed with him at Harvard Law School told Business Insider that the two rarely had explicitly political discussions.

after the school woke up on a November morning in 2015 to find slivers of black tape over the framed portraits of every black tenured law professor.

"I think both sides had the impression that they were kind of under fire," he said. "Tno one who was casually speaking out on those things."

But Jonathan Gartner, a former president of the Jewish Law Students Association, said he didn't think of Berkowitz as ideological.

"He was pragmatic about what his political views were," Gartner told Business Insider. "He was the type of person who was able to see other people's sides, who was able to have a thought-out discussion."

"He's the definition of calm, cool, and collected," Rabbi Johnny Ouzzan, who lived and studied with Berkowitz at a religious school in Israel, told Business Insider. "He doesn't really express frustration, even if he has reason to."

Religion and politics

In July, Kushner wrote his own Observer op-ed concerning allegations of anti-Semitism. This time, it was Trump who was being accused of promoting anti-Jewish sentiment after he tweeted an image of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, surrounded by cash and a six-sided star emblazoned with "most corrupt candidate ever!"

"

Berkowitz and Kushner have similar approaches to Israel. Both men have deep ties to the country.

Kushner's family has donated millions of dollars to Israeli institutions, including schools and hospitals, some located in settlements, and has a longstanding relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Growing up, Kushner attended Jewish schools and was taught to " close to him who said Kushner's Judaism and support of Israel were inextricably intertwined.

While Kushner's political stances are often not well understood, his approach to Israel has remained consistent and central to his politics. He is widely credited with shaping Trump's policy toward Israel, and the president has assigned him the monumental task of brokering peace between Israel and Palestine.

Israel and Judaism have played similarly central roles in Berkowitz's life. His family is also tied to powerful Jewish leaders. Berkowitz's cousin, Howard Friedman, was the first Orthodox president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most influential pro-Israel lobbying group in the US.

Growing up in Lawrence, Long Island, an affluent, largely Jewish town 45 minutes from Manhattan, Berkowitz was educated at a local Orthodox day school. After high school, he spent two years studying religious texts at Yeshiva Kol Torah in Jerusalem, a prestigious Israeli Orthodox seminary.

In Israel, Berkowitz was taught to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in religious terms, a worldview that Ouzzan said "definitely" informed Berkowitz's politics.

For many American Orthodox Jews, US policy toward Israel heavily influences their political allegiances. Ouzzan said many in the Orthodox community turned to Trump for relief from years of tense relations between President Barack Obama and Netanyahu.

"Younger people don't watch CNN. They just don't," Berkowitz told The Times in October. "This is how they get information. This is the best way to bring it to them. And we're happy to do that."

Berkowitz worked closely with Right Side Broadcasting Network, a conservative media startup that helped him with the logistics of livestreaming Trump rallies and, after the election, Trump's "thank you" tour events.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is planning to question Kushner about his communications with Russian officials as part of its broader investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump's associates had colluded with Russia.

Earlier this year, Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn,

While Berkowitz's friends aren't surprised by his success, they're not all supportive of his decision to work for Trump.

Berkowitz's Harvard roommate said he didn't have a strong reaction to the news that his friend had joined the campaign. "I wasn't disappointed. I wasn't proud," he said.

Ouzzan, who last saw Berkowitz at a mutual friend's wedding in Brooklyn before the election, said he was enthusiastic about the opportunity Berkowitz had.

"At that time, no one really thought that Trump had a chance," Ouzzan said. "A lot of people were like, 'OK, that's nice, good luck, Avrahmi.'

"Now that he became president, if that means Avi gets a chance to explore his talents and go somewhere in the administration, for us, as his friends, that's very exciting."

Jared Kushner's 28-year-old protégé is his right-hand man in the White House

The Road to the White House

Religion and politics

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