NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Bronfman Fellowship has selected its 37th cohort of intellectually curious 11th-graders from across North America, among them the founder of InvestNow Clubs, a nonprofit which brings investment clubs to schools in historically disadvantaged communities; a published author whose historical research has been featured in publications such as Scholastic’s Best Teen Writing; the founder and cohost of a podcast focused on political and social issues and how they apply to young people; and the founder of Good For Good, a club where students and faculty examine mass incarceration and read and respond to poems written by incarcerated individuals.
The 26 Fellows, who come from a broad spectrum of the Jewish community, will participate in a transformative, free Fellowship-year experience beginning with a summer in the U.S. and Israel, where they explore a rich, complex tapestry of Jewish texts and ideas in conversation with one another and a faculty team of leading rabbis, educators, and artists. They also interact with a group of Israeli peers who were chosen through a parallel selection process as part of the Israeli Fellowship, Amitei Bronfman. The new class of Fellows will join a vibrant, lifelong alumni community that includes some of today’s most exciting Jewish writers, thinkers and leaders.
This year’s cohort includes Raphael Delgado, a 16-year-old junior at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, where he regularly performs in theatrical productions and choral concerts and plays varsity volleyball. Highly dedicated to his studies, he takes a special interest in the humanities and loves exploring philosophical topics in all of his classes. Outside of the classroom, he is an avid singer. He has participated in regional and state-wide honor choirs and a choral festival at Carnegie Hall, holds a singing position as a choral scholar at All Souls’ Episcopal Church’s choir in San Diego, and leads his school’s very own barbershop quartet. As a student leader at his school, he has served on student government since 8th grade and currently represents the student body on the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Advisory Board and other decision-making bodies. Currently, he attends Congregation Dor Hadash in San Diego.
Delgado is one of four Californians in the cohort. The others are Jackson Flagg of Burlingame as well as Rustin Kharrazi and Rami Melmed of Los Angeles.
The Bronfman Fellowship was founded in 1987 by Edgar M. Bronfman, z”l, formerly CEO of the Seagram Company Ltd. and a visionary Jewish philanthropist. Mr. Bronfman passed away in December 2013.
“Edgar Bronfman would have relished the opportunity to get to know this year’s Fellows,” said Becky Voorwinde, Executive Director of The Bronfman Fellowship. “They are a passionate, inquisitive, talented and incredibly bright bunch. I look forward to seeing them challenge and inspire one another and their communities throughout their lives.”
Adam R. Bronfman, president of The Samuel Bronfman Foundation, said he was “impressed and heartened” by the new cohort. “The energy, diversity and intellectual firepower of this group speak to my father’s belief that young people can change the world in ways that previous generations couldn’t have envisioned,” he said. “My father treasured the Fellowship as an investment in the Jewish future, and I am proud to continue his work. It brings me joy to witness the magic that happens when Jews from all backgrounds come together to access Jewish wisdom and have important conversations. I look forward to getting to know the 2023 Fellows personally, and to joining some of those conversations myself.”
Following a competitive application process, the 2023 Fellows are from 13 states and Canada, and represent a wide range of Jewish backgrounds, including Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Just Jewish and secularly/culturally Jewish.
The Fellowship promotes the study of Jewish texts, traditions, history and culture as a way for Fellows to expand their perspectives and engage with one another and the world. The Fellows will study with an esteemed faculty, including Hannah Kapnik Ashar, Director of Faculty, a fellow in Hadar’s Advanced Kollel and at The Center for Rabbinic Innovation; Arielle Rivera Korman, Community Manager, co-founding director and the founding executive director of Ammud: Jews of Color Torah Academy and a Rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary; Rabbi Megan GoldMarche, Executive Director at Tribe 12; Dr. Evan Parks, faculty member at Columbia University; Dr. Ariel Picard, a teacher and research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute; and Rabbi Dr. Micha’el Rosenberg, faculty member at Hadar.
The Bronfman Fellowship alumni community includes some of today’s leading Jewish cultural creators, deep thinkers, moral voices, and community builders. There are now over 1400 Bronfman Fellowship alumni across North America and Israel. Among them are 9 Rhodes Scholars, 4 former Supreme Court clerks, 20 Fulbright Scholars, 37 Wexner Fellows and 29 Dorot Fellows. Leaders of note among Fellowship alumni include Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, author of the best-selling Series of Unfortunate Events children’s books; Matti Friedman, author of The Aleppo Codex; and Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum, Rabbi and co-founder of the pluralistic Jewish community, the Kavana Cooperative, in Seattle. Others include Judy Batalion, author of The Light of Days; Anne Dreazen, Director for Egypt, Israel and the Levant at the Department of Defense; Itamar Moses, Tony award-winner for The Band’s Visit; and Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz, Director of Tefillah and Music at Hadar Institute. Alumni also include entrepreneurial Jewish leaders who have founded organizations like Keshet, Sefaria, and YidLife Crisis; and serve in central leadership roles at major organizations like The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, the Jewish Women’s Archive, Central Synagogue, Hillel International and The Foundation for Jewish Camp, to name a few.
Israeli alumni of the Fellowship have also ascended to positions of influence in government, civil groups, the private sector and cultural institutions. Israeli alumni include attorneys at the State Justice Department, noted journalists, successful filmmakers (including a Tribeca Film Festival winner), political advisers to Members of Knesset, members of elite IDF units and university lecturers.
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Preceding provided by The Bronfman Fellowship