“Lean on me, when you’re not strong. I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on.”

This one line, sung from a Bill Withers song, “Lean On Me”, at conventions across the Order, may seem simple, but it’s not. What this line represents is a framework and community over 80 years in the making. A BBG sisterhood.

For the many who may have sang this song at a BBYO event, think about where you were when you sang it. Did you have your arms around a friend, or maybe a stranger? Were you screaming the lyrics like no one else was watching? Or maybe you were new and felt out of place, but you noticed the excitement in the girls around you and you felt the inescapable energy.

No matter what you were doing, our BBG sisterhood was planting a seed of itself inside you, a seed that each BBG has the privilege and responsibility to carry throughout her time in BBYO and beyond. 

Now fast forward to today. What does it mean to be a BBG, to be a part of this sisterhood? Though every person you ask may have a different answer, shaped by their own experiences, here’s what I think it means: To be a BBG and to be a part of this sisterhood is to carry both the triumphs and the failures of not only yourself, but also those around you, with pride and curiosity. To be a BBG is to be the shoulder to cry on when a sister needs it most, and to always have a shoulder to cry on when you are the one in need. But most of all, to be a BBG, a proud B’nai B’rith Girl, is to continue the legacy of those who came before us, for, just as the words of the cheer Identity, which has been chanted with honor and pride by Brith Girls for over 100 years, says: “I am one, though only one, there’s so much I can do. 

So how do we do this? How do we keep this sisterhood strong and everlasting? From what I’ve seen, it’s far from a perfect science. Yet, with a little bit of luck, and a lot of love and courage, the sisterhood we all know, love, and rely on today will only continue to thrive in the years to come.

So what do you say, BBG? Ready for another 82+ years of BBG sisterhood? I know I am! Lean on each other when you need it most, and please don’t waste one precious moment of this sisterhood, because there is truly nothing else quite like it.