Community Corner
The Dix Hills Teen BBYO Chapters Celebrate Hanukkah
The BBG girls and AZA boys join together to celebrate the Festival of Lights.
BBYO is a worldwide youth organization for Jewish teens with over 600 chapters nationally and internationally. Dix Hills is proud to boast both a girls chapter, the BBGs (B'nai B'rith Girls) named "L'Chaim" and a boys chapter, the AZAs (Aleph Zadick Aleph) named "Maccabee."
The majority of the Dix Hills chapters are comprised of ninth through twelve graders attending either or . L'Chaim, currently with 87 members, ranks as the second largest chapter in the Nassau/Suffolk Long Island region. Maccabee currently has 66 active members.
The sister and brother chapters joined together Friday night to celebrate Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. About 100 teens gathered at the home of one of their members. Led by High School East 12th grader and L'Chaim president, Alana Siev, they broke up into five groups, each group partaking in an activity before rotating to the next activity.
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Together they wrote holiday letters to soldiers, played the traditional Hanukkah dreidel game, had a bonding get-to-know each other discussion, told Hanukkah stories about unity and Jewish identity and had a fun song competition. They led a Friday night Shabbat service, lit the Hanukkah candles and ate potato latkes and pizza.
During the course of the year, the BBGs and AZAs participate in numerous charitable endeavors, community service, social gatherings with their chapter as well as with other chapters, leadership training and retreats, and Jewish education and enrichment experiences. Why do these teens love BBYO? One teen explained, "You get to meet lots of new people and have so much fun."
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If you have a son or daughter, or know of anyone who may be interested in joining one of BBYO's Dix Hills chapters, have them contact the Long Island regional headquarters located in Plainview at 516-433-2296 or Danielle Jenkin, Vice President of Membership for L'Chaim at 631-922-0546. Both the boys and girls are currently recruiting new members from the eighth through the twelve grades and would love to meet new friends!
