The Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel is seeking applications for the program’s 29th year. Twenty-six North American teens will be selected for an academic year of seminars including a free, five-week trip to Israel between the summer of the Bronfman Fellows’ junior and senior years of high school. The program aims to educate and inspire exceptional young Jews from diverse backgrounds to grow into leaders grounded in their Jewish identity and committed to social change. The program was founded and is funded by the late businessman and philanthropist Edgar M. Bronfman.

During the program’s seminars, Fellows meet with leading intellectuals, religious and political leaders, and educators. Fellows then participate in study and dialogue with our diverse faculty, which is made up of rabbis and educators, associated with different movements and perspectives within Judaism. Faculty members have an intimate knowledge of Judaism in North America and Israel and have extensive experience working with emerging adults. Fellows also spend two weeks with a group of Israeli peers who have been chosen through a parallel selection process as part of the Israeli Youth Fellowship: Amitei Bronfman.  Upon returning home from the summer in Israel, Bronfman Fellows are asked to devise and lead local Jewish or social action projects.

 Applications for the 2015 Fellowship are available online at www.bronfman.org and must be submitted online by Jan. 6. View a video about the program online at bronfman.org/become. High school students in the United States and Canada who self-identify as Jewish and who will be in the 12th grade in the fall of 2015 are eligible to apply. BYFI is a pluralistic program for Jews of all backgrounds; prior Jewish education is not required. Students are chosen not on the basis of financial need but on merit alone.