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Adam
Bronfman |
Corporate Leaders In Education:
An Interview With
Adam Bronfman
By Sybil Maimin
He is a new kind of
philanthropist. Born into wealth (the Seagram liquor empire),
he is casual, unpretentious, youthful in demeanor and outlook,
devoted to his wife and four children, and an avid skier.
These qualities have helped Adam Bronfman, managing director
of The Samuel Bronfman Foundation and vice chair of the Hillel
Board of Directors, understand and connect with the young
people his organizations seek to reach. Inspired by his father,
the legendary businessman and philanthropist, Edgar Bronfman—“He is my hero in terms of making
a difference, making the world a better place”—the
son, nevertheless, is doing it his own way. Through its four
major programs – the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel
(BYFI), Hillel: the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, My Jewish
Learning.com, and The Curriculum Initiative (TCI), the Bronfman
Foundation focuses on strengthening Jewish identity among young
Jews from a wide range of religious and cultural perspectives.
Adam Bronfman did not have a strong connection to his faith
until the birth of his first child “inspired him to think
about raising his family Jewishly.” Married to a non-Jewish
woman, he determinedly supports pluralism within the faith
and an atmosphere that is comfortable and welcoming for all.
Citing its history and moral and ethical dimensions, he explains, “Judaism
is something that contains religion but also a lot more.”
Bronfman is particularly
proud of the Youth Fellowship program, started in 1987, which
sends 26 outstanding Jewish high school juniors from widely
different backgrounds to Israel each summer to study Judaism
and the Jewish world. They interact with government, military,
and cultural figures, Arabs, Israeli teen-agers, and a distinguished
faculty. The goal is creation of future community leaders
who are open-minded and able to speak a common language despite
differences. They commit to remaining close to the program
as alumnae and Bronfman reports, with the help of follow-up
seminars, reunions, a listserv and e-mail network, the Fellows
have maintained strong bonds and serve the Jewish community
in myriad and creative ways. Dara Horn, a 1994 Fellow and
now a prize-winning novelist (2002 National Jewish Book Award),
describes “an astounding experience…The
caliber of participants is extraordinarily high…lots
of extremely bright, creative, articulate people with lots
of interests.” She appreciated “being challenged
to rethink the ways she thought about Judaism, Israel, and
herself.” Sam Rascoff, a 1990 Fellow and now a lawyer,
explains the program has no agenda, although “Its defining
commitment is to Jewish pluralism and unity of the Jewish people…Denominations
and categorizations are very limiting when approaching issues
of common interest.” He recalls a “first-rate faculty,
a rigorous learning experience, and a highly sophisticated
appreciation of what it means to be a Jew in North America.”
At Hillel, the largest
Jewish college campus organization in the world, Bronfman
is focused on international expansion. There are currently
110 Hillel Foundations in the United States, Canada, Israel,
Latin America, Australia, and states of the former Soviet
Union. They are linked in a system of “interdependent
self-sufficiency” with each having “its own flavor
and board.” Hillel “opens a door” and allows
students to discover and experience Jewish values and practices
on their own terms, a mission very much in keeping with Bronfman’s
own philosophy. The young philanthropist explains that another
Bronfman Foundation initiative, MyJewishLearning.com (MJL),
started in 2002, is another pluralistic venue, offering a comprehensive
collection of information, commentaries, history, and more – all
from diverse points of view. It even offers recipes for traditional
Jewish dishes and is used by non-Jews as well as Jews. Another
program, the Curriculum Initiative (TCI), is a many-faceted
opportunity for secular secondary schools to incorporate Jewish
ideas and learning into their curricula. Designed to ensure
that no one religious group dominates a school culture, the
program offers high-quality seminars on Jewish topics to teachers
and provides support to Jewish students wishing to express
their faith.
Bronfman is excited
by new challenges, whether reaching out to Russian-Jewish
immigrant students in Brooklyn or creating a Hillel for Spanish-speaking
Jewish students in Miami. He is a doer who thinks outside
the box as evidenced by his efforts in his hometown of Park
City, Utah. There, he helped expand the Reform synagogue,
Temple Har Shalom, by introducing artistic and cultural events
such as a Schmoozdance Film Festival (to echo the nearby
Sundance Film Festival) and a “Ski Shul,” a
cabin on a mountain that has a ski-in, ski-out Shabbat service.
There will be more challenges ahead and this young man with
a vision of making Judaism exciting and comfortable for all
seems ready to take them on.#
