History
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In 1923, a group of Jewish boys in Omaha, Nebraska organised their own fraternity after they had been refused entry to local fraternities that often excluded Jews. After a few months, a second chapter was founded in Kansas City. Thanks to the vision of adviser Sam Beber, who dreamt of a global Jewish movement, on May 3, 1924 [3] , a meeting took place and the Grand Order of the Aleph Zadik Aleph was born. The organisation rapidly began to grow and by April 1925 there were 7 chapters. Sam Beber approached the B'nai B'rith National Convention for support and AZA was adopted as B'nai B'rith primary youth programme. At the same time, small sororities began to spring up across North America, some using the B'nai B'rith Girls name. It was not until 1944 that, under the leadership of Anita Perlman, BBG was officially established as an international Order, and recognised by B'nai B'rith. The B'nai B'rith Youth Organisation was officially born.
In March 1940, Louis E Wigoder, an American living in Leeds founded Pioneer AZA #481. BBYO's first chapter in the United Kingdom. In June 1940, a similar story unfolded in Ireland, as an AZA chapter was founded in Dublin by American M. Gordon. In October 1943, Centenary AZA was established in Birmingham thanks to the hard work of American soldier Private William Katz and by 1944, further AZA chapters had been established in London. 1944 was also an important year for BBG as its first chapters opened in Leeds and Birmingham. By 1949, more chapters had been founded. BBYO was now big enough in the UK and Ireland to hold its first ever National Convention, in Hull. Hans Blanc was elected to lead the first National Executive, as the first National President, of BBYO District 15. BBYO District 15 continued to grow from strength to strength and sent its first members to AZA and BBG International Conventions, in 1955 and 1956 respectively. By 1966, the AZA and BBG chapters had become joint BBYO chapters and BBYO District 15 had grown enough to need an office and its first ever member of staff. Janet Ross worked as BBYO's first National Director from Hillel House in London. In 1973, members from London, Hull, Manchester, Coventry and Nottingham chapters took part in BBYO's first ever Israel tour. In 1981, Steven Kron from Dublin, became the first BBYO member from the UK & Ireland to hold a position on the International Board, as the Grand Aleph Shaliach. In the 1990s, BBYO began to become more independent from B'nai B'rith. In 1997, BBYO officially became a Zionist movement, passing a motion at National Convention, and the ideologies took the format that we know today. In 2002, BBYO in North America became independent from B'nai B'rith and reformed as BBYO, Inc. Over the course of the next decade, BBYO District 15 became known as BBYO UK & Ireland, in line with BBYO across the rest of the world. 2002 also saw the first summer camp take place in the UK and in 2003, it was given the Hebrew name Shorashim, meaning 'roots'. In 2008, after over 40 years at Hillel House BBYO moved into its own office in Hendon. In 2014, BBYO UK & Ireland signed a historic partnership agreement with BBYO Inc formalising our partnership and cementing our place as part of the global BBYO family.
