During the last weekend of July, a reunion brought together former members of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization who had joined the teen group in the 1970s. An international organization with a more than 80-year history, BBYO holds social and religious events, fundraisers and community service projects.
The weekend’s festivities included a party Saturday at the Marriot in Culver City and a Sunday afternoon picnic at an El Segundo park. The event drew an estimated 240 people on Saturday and 100 on Sunday, according to Bob Alexander, chairman of the reunion planning committee.
Alexander, who attended Venice High in the early ’70s, joined Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA), the men’s sect of BBYO, at age 15, he said.
Other attendees at the reunion included Edy Seaver, who credited B’nai B’rith Girls (BBG) for shaping her into who she is today.
“It really was the basis for who I grew into being,” she said.
Richard Hoffman, who attended the picnic Sunday, said he met his wife of 27 years through the program.
Hoffman, a self-described “impetuous teenager,” recalled his initial reluctance to join BBYO.
“For my mind, [it was] too Jewy,” Hoffman said.
But Hoffman’s parents, Polish survivors of the Holocaust, urged him to join. They wanted me to have “more of a Jewish identity,” he said, adding that in the end, “it was a lot of fun.”
Alexander said that he hopes the reunion will benefit the future of BBYO, an organization that may not be as popular as it once was.
Alexander said: “As a result of our reunion, we hope that our members will network with each other to spread the word that BBYO still exists [and] is still a vibrant and worthwhile organization that continuously needs our support to replenish its membership.”
