Posted on September 30, 2026
Renowned Program Embarking on 41st Year of Transformative Program for
Intellectually Curious High School Students from Diverse Jewish Backgrounds
New York, NY – September 2026. The Bronfman Fellowship is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications for its 41st cohort. Every year, The Fellowship selects twenty-six outstanding North American teenagers from a wide range of Jewish backgrounds for a free, intellectually challenging year of programming and community building, beginning with an immersive summer experience in the U.S. and Israel in between the Fellows’ junior and senior years of high school. During a time of rising polarization, isolation, bigotry, and threats to democracy around the world, the Fellowship is committed to cultivating young Jewish leaders who can build a more interconnected, courageous, and pluralistic future. The nonprofit Fellowship was founded by Edgar M. Bronfman, z”l, formerly CEO of the Seagram Company Ltd. and a visionary Jewish philanthropist.
Applications for the 2027 Fellowship are due December 1, 2026, and are available online at bronfman.org. High school students in the U.S. and Canada who identify as Jewish and who are in 11th grade in the fall of 2026 are eligible to apply. The Bronfman Fellowship is a pluralistic program for Jews of all backgrounds; prior Jewish education is not required. The Fellowship seeks young people eager to engage deeply with others, build trust through nuanced discourse, and see through a lens broader than their own.
“The Fellowship is an opportunity for dynamic personal and intellectual growth in a group of carefully chosen teens,” said Becky Voorwinde, CEO. “In a world that is increasingly divided, we seek to increase communication and understanding between young people from across the spectrum of Jewish life, including fostering bonds between Jews in North America and Israel. This program serves as a creative force that has inspired some of our best Jewish young adults to become leaders in their communities, and to develop their unique talents to change the world for the better.”
“My father, Edgar M. Bronfman, placed enormous faith in young people’s ability to see the world not just as it is, but as it ought to be,” said Adam R. Bronfman, President of The Samuel Bronfman Foundation. “He believed that young people energized by their Judaism were best equipped to both shape a Jewish ‘Renaissance’ and improve the world.”
For the past four decades, Bronfman Fellows have built a pluralistic community and expanded their perspectives through a transformative, intellectual, and deeply personal journey. Inspired by a stellar faculty of rabbis and educators, Fellows explore a wide range of Jewish texts, from classic religious works to contemporary poetry and philosophy, using these sources to engage with stimulating existential questions and achieve a deeper, enduring understanding of themselves and one another. Bronfman educators craft a welcoming space where Fellows learn to trust themselves and one another, explore ideas freely, share diverse perspectives, and have complex conversations built on openness and respect.
Fellows also have the unique opportunity to engage with speakers who are leading intellectuals, artists, and religious and cultural leaders. Past speakers have included Rabbi Adina Allen, founder and president of Jewish Studio Project; award-winning journalist Matti Friedman; Israel policy expert Michael Koplow; and poet and literary scholar Joy Ladin. Additionally, Fellows engage creatively through intensive artist workshops in literary, performing, and visual arts, taught by leading innovators in the field of Jewish art. Requiring no previous training, the workshops serve as reflective points, further elucidating the lives and narratives of others and empowering Fellows to add their voices to the rich tapestry of Jewish culture and ideas.
The Fellowship year begins with a summer of extensive programming in the U.S. and 10 days in Israel, where the Fellows interact with a group of exceptional Israeli peers, chosen through a parallel selection process by the Israeli branch of the Fellowship, Amitei Bronfman. Following their immersive summer, Fellows have monthly virtual meetings and two in-person seminars in the U.S., in which they continue to explore major themes in Jewish life, and embark on “Beyond Bronfman” projects that integrate the ideas and questions from their Bronfman summer with their daily lives and home communities.
The relationships and self-confidence that develop during the Fellowship year are built to last a lifetime. Bronfman alumni serve as changemakers across a wide range of fields including government, media, business, the arts, Jewish life, and academia. Leaders of note among Fellowship alumni include Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Central Synagogue; authors Dara Horn and Jonathan Safran Foer; Raphael Rosen, co-founder and CEO of Carbon Lighthouse; Liba Wenig Rubenstein, director of the Future of Work Initiative at the Aspen Institute; and Ariel Pollock Star, founder of Lehem Zeh, a women’s empowerment program in southern Israel. Alumni also include key figures at Jewish organizations such as Sefaria, Keshet, The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, the Jewish Women’s Archive, Hillel International, and The Foundation for Jewish Camp.
Our Israeli alumni have also ascended to positions of influence in government, civil society, the private sector, and cultural institutions. Amitei Bronfman alumni include attorneys at the State Justice Department, noted journalists, award-winning filmmakers, political advisers to Members of Knesset, members of elite IDF units, and top-university professors.
To learn more about The Bronfman Fellowship, and to apply or to refer a teen to the program, visit https://bronfman.org/. Applications are due December 1, 2026.
Contact:
Stefanie Weisman, Communications Manager
stefanie@bronfman.org