Charles Bronfman, who turned 93 this summer, has been a mainstay in the Jewish philanthropic world for decades, donating to a litany of causes and organizations in North America and Israel.

Twenty years ago, his children created an eponymous prize recognizing young humanitarians in his honor, which he said he considers the “best present” that he has ever received. This year, however, no recipient has been chosen yet, as the selection process was postponed following the Oct. 7 terror attacks. 

Nevertheless, to mark its 20th anniversary, the prize will host a series of events in New York from Sept. 22-25, bringing in past laureates — from the first, Gift of Life founder Jay Feinberg, to the latest, IsraAid founder Yotam Polizer — to discuss their ongoing work and the challenges facing Israel, the Jewish people and the world at large. 

From his home in the Hamptons, Bronfman spoke with eJewishPhilanthropy ahead of the prize events about a range of topics, from antisemitism on college campuses to the importance of bringing together Israelis and American Jews.

The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Jewish Ari Gross: What is different about this year compared to previous ones?  

Charles Bronfman: So we don’t have a prize winner this year. I guess I should say, they don’t have a winner. I don’t have anything to do with it, except that I’m one of the readers [who considers applications for the prize]. It’s the best present I ever had in my life. It’s pretty cool. 

JAG: Why is there no winner this year? 

CB: It hasn’t happened yet. There will be a winner, but because of Oct. 7 things got delayed. I think the first tranche of readers is finishing, and then they send their selections to another group of readers — I’m in that one — and then we send the final group of four or five applications to the judges. It starts off with somewhere around 50 and then we whittle it down to about 15, and then whittle that down to four or five. 

JAG: So the events taking place this week are just focused on the past winners?

I look forward to the ceremony every year. And the last couple of years, what we’ve done is invite some of the laureates to the celebration of the newest one. And they introduce what they do to the crowd. It’s really quite sparkling because one of the things that makes me so happy is that these so-called young people have accomplished so much but they’re still on the way up. 

JAG: I wanted to get a sense from your vantage point of how you see things. Obviously, this past year has been catastrophic in many ways. But it’s also seen a lot of growth and a lot of movement within the Jewish community. 

CB: Of course, I feel awful about everything going on. But one of the things that I’m pleased about is that some of the organizations have cooperated very closely. I would give an example, the American Jewish Committee, Hillel and the Anti-Defamation League. They’ve all gotten together to have campus programming and do other things that are out of the benefit of the students. After last spring’s terrifying nonsense on the campuses in all of North America, I think that the universities — because of a lot of pressure from our community — have created new rules, new structures to guard the Jews or any other minority kids. 

JAG: I know that you have given donations to some universities in Canada, to McGill and Concordia, if I’m not mistaken. Has the past year of anti semitic activity on campuses in the past year changed anything for you? Has it affected you in terms of your giving going forward? 

CB: Not yet. It hasn’t affected me yet. We’ve been using the time and the legalistics. If things get out of hand at any university, it would go to that. 

You know, Concordia a few years ago [in 2002], denied [then-former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] the right to speak. Afterward, I had a session with the CEO of the school. Whether that worked or didn’t work, I have no idea. But they apologized and had an election for the student body, and a good person won. 

JAG: In terms of your philanthropic priorities these days, are there any new areas that you’re looking to support or new organizations that you’re partnering with post-Oct. 7, both in Israel and in North America? 

CB: Well, I have increased my contribution to the jewish Federation of Palm Beach, [Fla.], which is where I call home.

Aside from that, I did give a gift to the [American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee] for its work in psychological health. I figure that Israel is going to have psychological problems for years to come, and that might be one area that may be forgotten. 

I feel so badly for the families, not only of the hostages. I feel so badly for the families of the people who have been on the front lines, and for everybody who’s suffered emotionally during this terrible year. 

JAG: Is there anything in the U.S. in terms of countering antisemitism or anything else that’s come up for you? Or is that not any different from in the past? 

CB: Well, regarding the antisemitism thing, I think that the current standard of philanthropy is very good. They’ve been doing a great job. They’ve raised a lot of money in order to fight antisemitism. As I said before, there are organizations that are cooperating with each other on this job. So I’m rather content both financially and emotionally with what’s going on. 

JAG: Looking back, you played a founding role in Birthright Israel, which is widely regarded as a success. But are there any other projects or initiatives or organizations that you were supportive of that you feel are now paying dividends? Or, on the flip side, is there anything that you think that you or others or philanthropists in general should have been paying more attention to?

CB: Well, Birthright has been a pretty marvel. And I think it’s really changed this generation and the generation after that. I just turned 93, so I think of a few generations at a time. But it’s just a marvelous, marvelous program. And you may know of our [new] volunteer project. Having 15,000 young adults going to Israel in a year like this one, that’s pretty remarkable in itself. So I think the North American communities are doing a very good job.

Fortunately, there were funds in the bank [for post-Oct. 7 efforts] at most of the federations. And I think everybody is taking the moment to heart, and they’re really bringing all that they can to shore up our defenses and our offenses. Because you can’t just play defense all the time. You have to be proud of who you are and what you’re doing. 

Maybe I’m not fulfilling your needs for a column. But I’m really not upset, and the other thing is, as I said a moment ago, I’m 93 years old. I’m not involved like I used to be. I am getting to be that wonderful word: emeritus. 

JAG: I’m certainly not looking for you to say anything in particular. I’m just interested to hear your perspective having been involved in so much in the Jewish philanthropic space. 

CB: There’s no doubt that we’re under threat. And there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll come through it. Now, will it be like the halcyon days of how it was a few years ago? I don’t know. But the trips to Israel will never be the same. Our community here will have to look to its morals when all of this nonsense is over — And I shouldn’t call it nonsense. I should say, ‘when all of these threats are over.’ But more than that, I can’t say. 

I don’t know if there’s going to be a change in the [Jewish communal] structure. But I think the people who are going to be coming into leadership positions and some who already have come into leadership positions will be quite different than we were. And that’s all for the good. I don’t think we did a bad job, but every generation does things its own way. And I think that the leadership today is very involved, very excited and very determined. 

JAG: I know that you have been a supporter of Mifgash (encounter) programs, bringing together American Jews and Israelis. Are there any of these programs like this, besides Birthright, that you are funding? 

CB: We are involved in another one, Enter: The Jewish Peoplehood Alliance. It has the One2One project, which is meant to bring Israelis and Diaspora Jews closer together, to learn about each other, to become friends. 

I take the attitude — always have — that united we stand, divided we fall. When Israelis and American [Jews] are not on the same page, we have a problem. And the better off that the Israelis became and the better off that the Americans became, the less we needed each other, and that was unfortunate. So we’re trying to get them back together. 

I always wanted to see the two places, Israel and America, become closer together. And see each other with equality. I also think that there has to be a change in the relationship between us. I don’t believe there’s such thing as a second-class Jew. And I do believe that the closer we get to each other, the better off the whole world will be.