Two Richmond high school juniors, Ally Rubinstein of J.R.Tucker High School’s IB program and Temple Beth-El, and Leo Schulman of Douglas Freeman High School and Congregation Beth Ahabah, have been elected presidents of the girl’s and boy’s Virginia Council of B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, the leading pluralistic teen Jewish movement.
BBYO has local chapters throughout the US and abroad, BBG (girls) and AZA (boys) divisions.
Their presidencies run a year and begin May 1. Rubinstein’s Hebrew title is N’siah and Schulman’s is Gadol.
Together, they will oversee BBYO chapters throughout Central and Southern Virginia. They help plan conferences, work on recruitment strategies and oversee board meetings.
The two Richmond chapters, Cohen BBG and Monarchs AZA have increased membership since Covid, when programs were mostly virtual.
Cohen has 15 new members with a total membership at 45. Monarchs have 14 new members, with a total of 28.
Together with local elected BBYO high school leaders, they plan educational, social and Israel- themed programs on weekends in members’ homes, at the Weinstein JCC and around Richmond.
In addition, there are several weekend regional conventions throughout the year. Newly elected local Richmond chapter leaders for BBG are: Lily Brooks, Sadie Wise, Sadie Edlavitch, Maytal Zasler, Joia Weinstein, and Sadie Goldberg. AZAs chapter leaders are: Alex Heyman, Avi Greene, Kaden Staffenberg, Jacob Katz, Bowen Reynolds and Alex Coffey.
In the summer of 2022, Ally attended BBYO’s summer Israel leadership program ILSI and Leo will be attending the same program this summer.
If you have an 8th-12th grade child interested in meeting other Jewish teens in Richmond and participating in leadership opportunities through BBYO, please email with Ally or Leo at allymrub22@gmail.com or leobschulman@gmail.com.
