Two Tucson teens, Gabe Friedman and Rachel Rudner, have been elected to the BBYO Mountain Region board.
Friedman is the 73rd regional aleph godol (BBYO AZA president), overseeing the engagement of Jewish teens across Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Also part of the teen team responsible for the BBYO On Demand website, www.bbyo.org/ondemand, he says, “Throughout this uncertain time, the teens of BBYO have found ourselves saying, ‘Nothing in BBYO is cancelled, it’s just online.’ Across the International Order of BBYO, we have been using our innovative platform of BBYO On Demand to celebrate with each other, laugh with each other, challenge one another, learn from one another, and continue to welcome new friends into our movement. As we unite, we reaffirm that the last thing we’ll do is distance ourselves from each other, our community, our tradition, or our faith.
Rudner, the 73rd regional mazkirah (vice president of communications), reports, “The local Tucson BBG (girls’ chapter), Kadimah, has been staying virtually connected by doing weekly Zoom programs where we do fun little activities and games to get to know each other better. Many of the programs have been centered around all the Jewish holidays that we just had and making plans to give back to our community. Throughout the week we regularly text with each other to stay connected and maintain the tight bond that we have.”
