News & Media
This week, we hear from Yonina Levisohn (Campus Commons '25, Cohort 2), a student at the University of Maryland. Launched in 2024, Campus Commons is The Bronfman Fellowship's bridge-building program for college student leaders of all Jewish backgrounds. As part of her Campus Commons Implementation Project, which encourages participants to bring what they learned on the program back to their campuses, Yonina set out to create opportunities for students to have dialogue across difference. Along the way, she discovered that although she had to change her view of what kind of bridge-building was achievable, meaningful progress could be made by creating a space to build trust and relationships. Continue Reading »
June, 2026
“I’m tired of debating the encampments,” said one student as others nodded. Here I was, a fly on the wall, during an open-space dialogue about antisemitism, self-facilitated by Jewish college students from across North America.
“What I’d like to better understand is,” said a different student, “When we refer to antisemitism on campus, what do we actually mean? Is it antisemitism that happens to take place on campus, or is it something distinct?”
Students continued to share their nuanced stories and questions, without fear of saying the “wrong thing,” wrestling with complexity while demonstrating a sense of confidence made possible by a compassionate environment. Continue Reading »
April 23, 2026
Outstanding Jewish College Students from Thirty Colleges Selected to Join a Dynamic Community of Bridge-Builders
The Bronfman Fellowship has selected its second cohort of outstanding Jewish college students for Campus Commons: Building Bridges with Jewish Wisdom, which empowers students to use Jewish wisdom to cut through polarization on their campuses and beyond. This cohort of 35 college students with diverse Jewish backgrounds come from 30 campuses across 14 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. Among them are a participant in three humanitarian aid trips to wartime Ukraine, the leader of five film festivals, the co-founder of their university’s Interfaith Initiative, and the creator of a podcast that aims to foster thoughtful conversations around complex topics. The cohort begins their semester-long program with a multi-day immersive, in-person seminar on November 13, 2025. Continue Reading »
November 10, 2025
October 12, 2025
The past two years have been particularly challenging for Jewish college students. Our campuses, which should be places of curiosity and critical exchange, have too often become arenas of polarization. As upperclassmen, Ari at Harvard and Maya at McGill, we have watched peers feel trapped between two extremes: to take a strident side on nuanced conflicts, or to stay silent and withdraw from the conversation all together. Charlie Kirk’s recent assassination has further intensified the polarizing atmosphere. Frighteningly, some have seen his death as proof that civil discourse and free speech are impossible to achieve.
For students like us who care deeply about pluralism, this climate has felt especially isolating. Even before Kirk’s assassination a number of university administrators were calling for pluralism and increasing investments in dialogue training. Continue Reading »
Eight leading Jewish educators to teach Cohorts 2 and 3 of Campus Commons, a dynamic program designed to enhance social cohesion and cultivate pluralistic leadership on college campuses
The Bronfman Fellowship is pleased to announce its outstanding faculty lineup for the 2025-2026 cohorts of Campus Commons: Building Bridges with Jewish Wisdom. Launched by The Bronfman Fellowship in 2024, Campus Commons is an innovative leadership program for North American college students of all Jewish backgrounds, which empowers them to use Jewish wisdom to enhance social cohesion on their campuses and beyond. The diverse group of leading rabbis, scholars, educators, and artists will expose participants to a wide variety of Jewish texts and ideas, magnifying the program’s impact and enhancing students’ ability to communicate across difference. Continue Reading »
September 8, 2025
With a grant of $250,000 from UJA-Federation of New York, The Bronfman Fellowship is scaling up Campus Commons: Building Bridges with Jewish Wisdom, its innovative leadership program for college students of all Jewish backgrounds. Following its impactful pilot program of 31 students from 27 campuses across North America, the program is expanding to include up to 80 students in two cohorts in 2025-2026. Drawing on the Fellowship’s 39 years of experience cultivating the pluralistic leadership of Jewish teenagers and young adults, this free program empowers students to use Jewish values and wisdom to enhance social cohesion on their campuses and beyond. Continue Reading »
May 12, 2025
Outstanding Jewish College Students from Twenty-Seven College Campuses Selected to Join a Dynamic Community of Bridge-Builders
The Bronfman Fellowship has selected its first cohort of outstanding Jewish college students for Campus Commons: Building Bridges with Jewish Wisdom, an exciting new program that will empower students to use Jewish values and wisdom to enhance social cohesion on their campuses and beyond. This cohort of 31 college students with diverse Jewish backgrounds come from 27 campuses across 13 states and Canada. Among them are the founder of an art-based dialogue program called “ArTikkun: Jews Celebrating Disagreement;” a student working on a machine learning project with the Sefaria API; a plant evolution researcher who’s done fieldwork in the Amazon and the Andes; and the creator of a civil discourse program called “Intellectual Vitality.” The cohort begins their semester-long program with a multi-day immersive, in-person seminar on January 12, 2025. Continue Reading »
January 9, 2025
Fifty Jewish college students to learn together in a dynamic program designed to enhance social cohesion and cultivate pluralistic leadership on college campuses.
The Bronfman Fellowship is launching a year-long pilot for a diverse group of Jewish college students called Campus Commons: Building Bridges with Jewish Wisdom. Drawing on the Fellowship’s 38 years of experience cultivating the pluralistic leadership of Jewish teenagers and young adults, this free program will empower students to use Jewish values and wisdom to enhance social cohesion on their campuses and beyond. Participants will explore core Jewish ideas and texts related to pluralism, as well as the latest research in social psychology, communication, and conflict management. Campus Commons is made possible through a seed grant from UJA-Federation of New York. Continue Reading »
September 9, 2024