When you think about BBYO what do you think about? Do you think about friends? Do you think about programs? Do you think about traditions? Since Nordaunian AZA #0022 was initiated on April 18th, 1926 it has been building all of those things, and as we approach the milestone 100-year birthday of our chapter, my peers and I looked to bring back a staple of Kansas City BBYO. The fabled Matzo Ball: an event housing hundreds of teens, parents, and community members alike for the yearly celebration near Passover time. This program was one that the community rallied around to raise tens of thousands for both BBYO and local charities every single year. 

COVID was disruptive for many in BBYO across the order and Kansas City was hit hard. We all lost many traditions that were normally carried from Aleph to Aleph, and BBG to BBG. This made the task of planning and executing Matzo Ball extraordinarily difficult for our board. But I am thrilled to announce that after six years dormant and countless questions of where it is, Matzo Ball will return on April 5th, 2025! Although the vacancy has been hard to overcome, one thing that never challenged us was the enthusiastic support from our community, such as giving advice, offering time, or even donations. This support stems from each alumni’s love, their everlasting memories of how impactful BBYO was for them, and their hope to pass that feeling on to the next generation. 

One important reason that I wanted to write this was to exemplify how traditions can be both lost due to gaps created by the absence of constant turnover and how they can miraculously be brought back by anyone who is committed enough to spend the time to connect with alumni and put in the work to lift back something lost.

This process also taught me that nothing comes easy, especially when it comes to planning something with a group of busy high school students. I originally had the idea to bring back Matzo Ball in the fall of 2022 where I proposed the idea at our chapter Board meeting. Everyone was excited, but with the lack of action over ideas, we were not able to capitalize on the opportunity. I then presented it again in the fall of 2023 which fell through for a second time. Finally, in the fall of 2024, I pulled together a committee and we just started planning. It started slow, and to be honest we still aren't perfect, but all together we have learned a lot about how to adapt and persevere through deadlines and venues being unavailable or even unresponsive. It is going to be hard to plan anything, especially if there aren't former years to build off of, but anyone can commit to that big idea they have as long as they can rally those who want them to succeed and choose action over ideas!