After a long post-IC rest, I was ready to hit the road and travel down south to Lonestar region. I started my tour in Houston for a nice warm change from the Seattle rain. I got to see many of the great Houston staples, from the Merfish Teen Center, where they have BBYO programs, to the great Jewish Day School Emery Weiner, and of course some delicious Texas barbecue restaurants. I loved being in Houston and getting to see all of the different chapter personalities. Just one week after their new member placement, it was very exciting to see all of the teens taking their first steps into BBYO and having so much fun. Next stop in Lonestar was Austin. Austin was jam-packed with getting off the bus right to meeting a group of esteemed AZA alumni. Speaking with the 98th, 77th, and 50th Grand Aleph Godolim was an amazing experience to see how AZA has changed over the last 50 years and the many intricacies of our evolution. Later that night, I got to go to Capital AZA’s overnight, which was a lot of fun. The rambunctious energy in the opening activities was juxtaposed with the amazing meaningful separates. This was followed with new member placement the next day, where we had the same exciting energy as earlier in the week with Houston. After some more delicious barbecue and time with the regional board, it was time to head up north.
In New York, I had the opportunity to join Joelle at ADL’s Never Is Now conference. This was an amazing chance to hear from the industry leaders on combating antisemitism and hate. From lawsuits to college antisemitism report cards, I was able to take away a lot of important information about the current state of the issue and what we can do to continue to combat it. This conference was not only educational, but I got to reconnect with so many familiar BBYO faces. I saw everyone from the past 3 immediate Grand Aleph Godolim, to friends from Perlman, members from the board of directors, and other BBYO alumni.
After a quick train ride, I found myself in Livingston, New Jersey with GJR. I got to be in both Northern and Central Council for so many amazing inductions. I loved getting to see the vastly different traditions between the chapters, whether they were inducting one of many AIT classes, or this was one of their first. One of the most memorable inductions was Marlboro AZA’s AITnapping; I loved seeing the intense coordination to surprise and pick up all of the AITs from their houses across the city. There were so many meaningful programs, exciting spirit circles, and brand-new AITs ready to enter the portals of AZA. I also had the chance to meet many of the young leaders in the region. It was an exciting time with both Summer Programs and Election declarations on the horizon, and it was empowering to see so many Alephs excited to take a step deeper into the order. After a full week, I said goodbye and headed to the airport for my next stop.
Although I didn't land in Pittsburgh until the late hours of the night, I received a very warm welcome on the first night of KMR’s AIT/MIT overnight. I was sad to miss the programs of the day prior, but I was ecstatic to see so many young faces excited from a fun first day in AZA. The next day was full of even more amazing programming. Many firsts from their first blue book, to first spirit circle, and first of many hard goodbyes to the lifelong friends they made that weekend. I spent the rest of the day after the morning's programming touring Pittsburgh with the regional board. In KMR’s resurgence, they have been led by so many young Alephs stepping up to lead in such mature ways, and seeing KMR’s board reaffirmed that. Even though every member on the AZA board is a junior, I had incredibly deep, meaningful conversations with each and every one of them about how they want to build the future of the community. When we had chapter board workshops and full regional board meetings, it was inspiring to see this level of thought being put into each and every facet of the community, and I can’t wait to see those visions come to life. It was a sad goodbye in KMR, but an exciting see-you-later because they were coincidentally traveling to the same city I was that following weekend.
Anddddd that same city was Cleveland, Ohio! Only a two-hour drive away, I got to meet in the middle for a fun lunch with both KMR and ONR staff before making it to Cleveland. My uncle grew up in the city and served as ONR’s Regional Aleph Godol back when he was in BBYO, and so I was very excited to come to the community. I got to spend some time at their great JCC and see the BBYO offices that live and side. In this space, I was able to run my AZA legacy night program for so many of the Alephs. Although this community did not have AIT programming this week like the last couple, the connections I built with the younger Alephs were some of the most meaningful. I loved seeing how tight the teens were in ONR and how excited they were to be with each other. From the AZA meet-and-greet to the rising leader dinner, the teens so naturally came together to have so much fun. But not just were the teens within ONR close, but they were also tight with their neighbors in KMR from the past shared WinterCon. Seeing the teens reunite fondly reminded me of my time in Evergreen, traveling between Seattle and Portland to spend time with all of my friends. We had some great discussions about what practices ONR and KMR can exchange to continue building their regions and celebrated Purim all together.
While ONR only marks the halfway point in March, the second half of the month contained a trip deserving of its own article. So sit tight and stay tuned for the next article, but in the meantime, follow along the rest of my travels @azagodol and #mapmez!
Dan is an Aleph from Evergreen Region and is serving as the 100th Grand Aleph Godol.
All views expressed on content written for The Shofar represent the opinions and thoughts of the individual authors. The author biography represents the author at the time in which they were in BBYO.
