Hugs and Perlman share many commonalities, but the most important one, in my opinion, is that their significance lies not in the location or the act itself, but rather in the individuals involved. When it comes to hugs, the joy stems not from the act of extending our own hands, but from receiving the embrace of others and embracing them in return. And in this process, we experience one of the most wonderful sensations known to humanity: a sense of community.

Community takes shape in a unique way to each human bearing on our planet. I am lucky to be part of many communities but before I attended ILTC defining what a community was, was near impossible. Each dictionary will give you one answer but Harry from New England encapsulated best, “Community is trusting what’s behind you even if you don’t have eyes in the back of your head”. So simple but yet so perfect, it puts into words what the communities I'm apart of represent for me. 

When you run a program it’s impossible to see everything, ILTC allowed me to understand the importance of just going with the flow. If you are present and trying your best, the best is likely to follow. Even when it didn’t, I knew that we would still go on with the next program because everybody worked hard on it. During services, programs or Havdalah, the teen led part of BBYO shines through. The movement is what it is because we are at the front of it. BBYO is a global community.

Even though we will probably never be together as one ILTC community, under the same sky or in the same room again. Despite all that, we will be forever bonded by our experiences at Perlman, we all ate Chef Jeff’s food (pizza rolls ftw) or sang "This Home" a million times. At least for me the best part of ILTC was it’s community more than anything else.