Hey, hey, hey!

Wow! September has flown by. It feels like just yesterday I was sitting at a coffee shop in New York City writing my last installment of Keeping Pace. Since then, I’ve had a crazy month of community visits, LTIs, and so much more.

New England Region:

After spending some time with the amazing teens of the Manhattan Region, I was excited to travel up north to Boston and spend time with the New England Region. I arrived just after Labor Day, and the upcoming weekend we had the NER RLTI. While staying with Noah, I had the chance to meet with him, the rest of the regional board, and the incredible staff team in preparation for the LTI. We had a great time meeting with the regional board and chapter boards ahead of the weekend, and it was exciting to see so many young members getting involved in leadership.

After an eventful day of Boston College football and an AZA board overnight, it was time for the LTI. We worked through everything from prospecting to calendaring to bonding. We had a productive business meeting where we did a huge overview of what everyone has been up to over the past few months, as well as some exciting new things coming up this year. After finishing the LTI, we had an amazing chapter president roundtable. It was great to have the opportunity to sit down with the chapter presidents and talk about everything going on in their chapters and their biggest takeaways from LTI.

Big Apple:

Next stop was back to the Big Apple! It was great to return after being there just before the B’yachad LTI. This time, I was excited to reconnect with the teens I had seen just a few short weeks ago and watch them put into action what they had learned at their RLT. We kicked off the week with an AZA ritual night, which was super meaningful as so many Alephs walked through the Blue Book and learned all the key characteristics and principles of AZA.

I also got to attend some chapter kickoffs! At the first kickoff, I was told to only expect 10-15 people, so you can imagine my surprise when I walked into their meeting location to find 60+ Jewish teens excited for the event! It was so special to see teens running around, talking to prospects, and getting them to join their chapter. The next kickoff I attended was the first event for a brand-new chapter! It was exciting to see such a strong synagogue community so interested in joining BBYO, and it brought me so much joy to see them engaging in the activities.

While I spent most of my time in Brooklyn, I had the opportunity to go to Queens and sit with many of the teens there. We talked a lot about how they were dealing with the antisemitism they had been facing in their schools.

North Star:

After a nice stretch at home, I hit the road again to visit the Twin Cities and North Star Council. I arrived during some sort of harvest festival and had no clue what was going on, but it was super fun to see so many people out by the lake. I had the chance to go to Council kickoff, which was a ton of fun. The venue had to be one of the craziest I’ve seen, with everything from a trampoline park to indoor go-karting. I had a lot of fun talking with the teens there and even got to do some trampoline jousting.

After kickoff, we had a great dinner with many of the council and chapter board members and talked through all of the exciting events coming up. I was super excited to hear about a new event that would engage some Saint Paul teens. Of course, I had to do some tourist activities, so the Council presidents and I went to the Mall of America to engage in tourist activities as well as talk through more of the future of North Star.

‍Kansas City:

My next Mid America stop was Kansas City! I went straight from the airport to the Kansas City JCC. But this JCC wasn’t like the typical Jewish community centers I was used to—this was a Jewish community campus. It was incredible to see how robust of a Jewish experience these facilities provided the community, from a Hebrew school to the JCC to a synagogue.

We then went to a nice chapter dinner, and it was amazing to see how interested everyone, from young AITs to older seniors, were in chapter operations and leadership. Everyone had questions about how to go about doing certain things and what the big events coming up in their community were.

The next day, we got to see Kansas City’s other AZA chapter at their business meeting. I loved seeing how well they were planning their calendar. From AZAA events coming up the following week to rush events months down the line, they had super engaging plans for all of these programs and were creating a diverse experience for their teens.

After the meeting, we met with all of KCC BBYO and talked about BBYO Summer. I’m so excited to see how Kansas City will fill up CLTC and Perlman this summer. We finished the night with a Crumbl Cookie run, and I got to talk with some underclassmen about getting more involved in their chapter.

Kansas City’s visit wrapped up with a classic AZA wing night, where I had a chance to sit with the chapter presidents and talk about how their board meeting had gone and how we’re going to put all of their big ideas into motion.

Saint Louis:

For my last stop on this Mid America stretch, I was excited to go to Saint Louis, both because I love Saint Louis barbecue and because I love Saint Louis BBYO! We kicked off the weekend with a trip to see Saint Louis FC win a great match, as well as some great conversations about enriching AZA ritual and tradition within the Saint Louis Council. But my favorite part of this trip was attending an Esperanto Chapter dinner and seeing how rich their brotherhood is. It was very clear to me how energized these teens were to lead their chapter and continue growing Saint Louis BBYO.

Looking Ahead…

From the High Holidays to IC Launch and so much more incredible programming, October is going to be quite a full month! Make sure you follow @AZAgodol on Instagram and #MapMez to see many more live travel updates, and I will catch you on the road!