Meet the Lavi Family
Our Staff
At Camp Lavi, our staff is the heart of our community.
Our counselors, coaches, specialists, teachers, and leadership team are more than staff — they are role models, mentors, teammates, and the people who make Lavi feel like home.
We look for people who show up for our campers — who bring energy to the fields, spirit to Shabbat, enthusiasm to every activity, and Jewish values into the way they lead and connect.
They encourage our campers to compete, grow, try something new, build confidence, make lifelong friendships, and most importantly, be part of something bigger than themselves.
It takes incredible people to create the Lavi Family. Meet the people who make the magic happen.
Joey Hoenig
Owner & Director
For Joey Hoenig, returning to Camp Lavi is truly a homecoming.
Joey’s connection to Lavi began as a camper in the 1970s. Decades later, he returned to the place that helped shape him, becoming Camp Director in 2010 and an Owner/Director of Camp Lavi.
During his years leading Lavi, Joey helped strengthen and grow virtually every aspect of the Camp experience. From programming and camper recruitment to staffing and major improvements throughout the campus, his focus was always on creating an environment where children could have an incredible summer while growing within a strong Torah and Modern Orthodox environment.
But Joey’s commitment to children extends far beyond the gates of Camp Lavi.
For more than three decades, Joey has dedicated his career to working with Jewish youth through athletics and education. As Athletic Director at HAFTR, longtime basketball coach and co-founder/director of the Five Towns Basketball League, Joey has worked with generations of children, using sports to teach teamwork, perseverance, discipline, sportsmanship and strong middot.
At the heart of Joey’s philosophy is a simple belief: Camp has the power to shape a child.
It is where friendships are formed, confidence is built, Jewish identity is strengthened and children learn what it means to be part of something bigger than themselves.
Now, Joey returns to Camp Lavi as Owner and Director, bringing with him decades of experience, a deep knowledge of Lavi and an unwavering belief in the importance of Jewish summer camp.
He is proud to carry forward the legacy of the owners and directors who came before him while helping lead Camp Lavi into its next chapter.
For Joey, this isn’t about starting over.
It’s about coming home — and making sure the Camp Lavi magic continues for generations to come.
Yael Rudolph
Owner & Operator
For Yael Rudolph, Camp Lavi isn’t simply a place she now owns and directs. It is a place that helped shape who she is.
Yael spent 22 summers at Camp Lavi, beginning as a camper in 1996 and growing through the Camp before ultimately serving in senior leadership as Program Director and Assistant Director. Those years gave her a deep appreciation for the traditions, relationships, values and seemingly small moments that create the magic of sleepaway camp.
A lifelong believer in the power of Camp, Yael brings extensive experience in camp leadership, programming, operations and community management. Most recently, she served as Executive Director of Beaver Lake Estates, overseeing the operations of a large seasonal community, including staffing, facilities, programming, budgeting and capital improvements. She is also a former fitness instructor and entrepreneur.
Yael and her husband, Elnatan, are the proud parents of five children. As both a longtime camp professional and a parent who has sent her own children to sleepaway camp, Yael understands the enormous trust families place in the people caring for their children each summer.
As Owner and Director of Camp Lavi, Yael is honored to carry forward the legacy of the owners and directors who came before her while helping lead Camp into its next chapter.
Her goal is simple: protect what makes Camp Lavi special, continue to strengthen it, and ensure that the Camp Lavi magic is here for generations to come.