Avrahm 'Avi' Berkowitz was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in Lawrence, Long Island, New York. After high school, he spent two years studying religious texts at Yeshiva Kol Torah, an Orthodox yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel. Returning to the United States in 2009, he enrolled at Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, Maryland, before transferring to Queens College in New York City, where he completed his undergraduate degree. Berkowitz earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 2016. He speaks fluent Hebrew and maintains strong personal connections to Israel. Berkowitz first connected with Jared Kushner during his undergraduate years at a Passover celebration in Phoenix, Arizona, where they played pickup basketball and formed a close friendship. Post-graduation, he managed the Kushner Companies' apartment portfolio and wrote articles for Kushner's New York Observer from 2013 to 2016, often critiquing political correctness. He joined the 2016 Trump presidential campaign as Assistant Director of Data Analytics and produced 'Trump Tower Live,' a Facebook Live show criticized as propaganda. Berkowitz faced criticism for his rapid rise due to perceived inexperience and nepotism, with media outlets dubbing him Kushner's 'coffee boy' despite his substantive roles. As former assistant to Jared Kushner and special representative for international negotiations in the Trump administration, he was involved in the Abraham Accords and Middle East policy, for which he has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Following his White House service, Berkowitz married in 2023.