New York City-based businessman Matthew Bronfman, 55, likes to work with values — and not just business values.
He has recently become a player in Wisconsin’s economy, and did so not only because he perceived a business opportunity.
“We love the Midwestern culture and values,” he explained to The Chronicle, “and we think that there’s a great opportunity for us to be involved in the community, and from that standpoint also to grow our business. To do good and do well at the same time.”
Bronfman is chair and chief executive officer of investment company BHB Holdings LLC. This past June, he partnered with E. L. Rothschild LLC to purchase Wisconsin-based Baker Tilly Investment Advisors.
The firm is now called Bronfman E.L. Rothschild. It has offices in Milwaukee, Madison and Appleton, plus one in Minneapolis.
This was one reason he was one of the three businesspeople forming the panel at the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Economic Forum, held Oct. 28 at the Pfister Hotel.
They discussed economic issues affecting Wisconsin with the featured speaker, new Milwaukee Bucks basketball team co-owner Marc Lasry. (See November issue.)
But Bronfman isn’t just about business. His father was Edgar Bronfman (1929-2013), president of the World Jewish Congress from 1981 to 2007.
And after the Economic Forum, Bronfman got acquainted with more of the Wisconsin Jewish community.
He spoke to the MJF Young Leadership Division in the evening of Oct. 28; and on Oct. 29, he appeared at the Jewish Business and Professionals’ Roundtable of the Jewish Federation of Madison.
He also met with The Chronicle right after the forum and shared his enthusiasm for the Jewish philanthropic work that he has presided over in Israel, the former Soviet Union and New York City.
Quiet diplomacy
He recently became chair of the American Jewish Committee’s operation in Jerusalem. This office — directed by Avital Leibovich, former chief spokeswoman to the international news media for the Israel Defense Forces — serves as an unofficial liaison between Israel and other nations.
“Because we’re a non-governmental organization, that allows us to talk to many, many foreign governments that perhaps would be more reluctant to talk to Israel,” Bronfman said. “We can be sort of the ‘middle man’ in a lot of ways.”
“Ultimately… constructive dialogue is the only way to get things resolved,” Bronfman said. “And quiet diplomacy is certainly one of the things I learned from my father.”
Bronfman also does business in Israel; in fact, the Jerusalem Post in 2012 called him “the biggest American Jewish investor in the Israeli economy … the main shareholder in IKEA Israel, Israel Discount Bank and Shufersal.”
Bronfman spoke with particular enthusiasm of his work with Limmud FSU (Former Soviet Union).
Limmud is a Jewish educational and Jewish identity-building program that began in Great Britain more than 30 years ago. Eight years ago, Bronfman was invited to lead the effort to bring the program to the FSU countries; and he chairs the project’s international steering committee.
The project today serves Russian-speaking Jews all over the world. For example, Bronfman said that on the weekend before he came to Wisconsin, he was in Toronto, where 400 young Russian-speaking Jews attended a Limmud weekend.
A month before that, he was in Belarus for a similar event; and said that this month he will be attending a Limmud weekend for 1,000 Russian-speaking Jews in Israel.
Bronfman referred to the Economic Forum discussion, where one question that came up was, “How do you measure success?”
For Limmud, “We measure [success] not just by the number of participants, but by the people who come back and bring guests and get the word out, and their enthusiasm,” he said.
“And one of the amazing things that we’ve seen,” he said, is that members of the 20- to 40-year old participants are “bringing their parents” to Limmud events. “Their parents who were afraid to do anything Jewish.” And between the parents, children and grandchildren, “now we’re seeing three generations coming.”
He attributes Limmud’s success in this project to several factors. First, it brings diverse organizations together in cooperation, something unusual in FSU Jewish culture.
“Jewish life in the FSU… has historically been characterized by very territorial fiefdoms,” Bronfman said. “We have 20 different Jewish organizations who all contribute to Limmud FSU.”
Second, the Limmud activities are organized and run “from the bottom up,” that is by members of the target audience. “They set the agenda. They pick the location… We don’t tell them who to invite. We help them. We do what we can because we have so much experience. But it’s theirs. They own it.”
The “top down” programs for Jewish connection, Bronfman said, “are not working.” Limmud, he said, works “in a non-threatening way that doesn’t come in and say, ‘You’ve got to keep kosher, keep the Sabbath, study Torah, put on tefillin.’”
“Frankly, I don’t care if people connect to Jewish life through basket-weaving, jewelry-making, poetry, Torah, politics, advocacy — it doesn’t matter,” he said.
This philosophy appears also to manifest itself in his third Jewish involvement, his work with the 92nd Street Y (Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association) in New York City.
Bronfman calls this organization “The biggest and most effective Jewish community and cultural organization in America.” Moreover, “we are both local and global.”
For example, the organization televises its High Holidays services live, so sick and infirm and military people who can’t attend a synagogue can see a service. In fact, Bronfman said, “I had a friend of mine in Israel tell me that he saw my son fist bump the rabbi after my aliyah on Yom Kippur.”
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