Repetition is a funny thing. Almost two years ago, I had my very first BBYO event, a Regional Kickoff, at a Main Event. I’m not going to lie and say the event was life-changing, or that it was the event that made me want to get as involved as possible. But what it did give me was mentorship.

Throughout that first event, I watched our board introduce themselves to us, not as Godols, or Morim, but as brothers we could look up to.

Now, that class is in their final year of BBYO, and it feels weird that before I know it I’ll be seeing them dedicate their lives, pass down their t-shirts, and drive home from their last ever event. These are the thoughts that have been going through my head this whole semester, but what only just hit me was how I can carry on their legacy.

Just a few days ago, I was on the media team at an AZAA field day event. I expected to spend the whole time with my counterparts making up big words and pretending to be sports journalists. Instead, I ended up spending most of my time with two eighth graders who were the brothers of two of our chapter members.

We talked, joked around, and I got to give them some Mazkir advice, but it wasn’t until the event was over that I realized what had happened.

That event, while normal for me, was completely different to them. It was their very first BBYO event, and I got to do for those two eighth graders what our now senior class had done for me all those events ago.

Again, I’m not going to lie and say that the event had changed my life. But what it gave me was one of the best experiences anyone in BBYO can have. Not reuniting with all my summer friends after two long months, or learning my rituals and traditions for the first time, but something much smaller: a moment where I realized that the brotherhood I found at my first event was something that I could pass on. 

My old board gave me people I could look up to, and without even realizing it, I got to be that person for someone else. That’s what makes repetition so funny: the people you rely on, and the ones that make you feel at home, become the people you try to be without even knowing it. And the moments that feel yours uniquely at first are the ones you get to pass down