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My experience was at first rather scary, as calling random people and not knowing how it will go is quite unusual and new to me. But once I got into the flow of it, I found it enjoyable! I spent 10 minutes chatting to one lady who I’ve now recruited the daughter of to Mercaz and she donated! I also spoke to another lady for 5 minutes and enjoyed that too. It was a good experience and I took a lot away from it!
Fraser shares his experience during the callathon for Giving Day
BBYO UK’s Giving Day 2025 is here! And this year, our community is coming together in a bigger way than ever before.
Across the country, 30 incredible teens and bogrim volunteers are picking up the phone and calling more than 500 members of our wider BBYO family, all with one shared goal: to raise £15,000 to support the most radically inclusive and pluralist Jewish youth movement in the UK.
This effort isn’t just about fundraising. It’s about celebrating everything BBYO gives to young Jewish teens today: stability, confidence, community, Jewish pride, and the chance to step into leadership roles - setting the foundation for the future of our wider Jewish community.
Why Giving Day Matters:
Shorashim Summer Camp 2025
For tens of thousands of Jewish teens across the world, BBYO is more than just a youth movement, it’s a place where they feel safe, supported, and inspired. Our peer-led model empowers young people to run their own programmes, shape their own chapters, and take ownership of their Jewish identity in a way that is meaningful, fun, and deeply rooted in community.
Weekly meetings, national events, Shorashim Summer Camp, Machaneh Choref Winter Convention, Trek Israel, and international opportunities all give teens a unique platform that no other UK movement offers.
The last few years have been challenging for the UK Jewish community. From COVID-19 and ongoing conflict in Israel, to rising antisemitism and increased pressure on young people’s mental health, teens need spaces like BBYO more than ever before.
And demand is rising. More teens are looking for a Jewish home where they can feel safe, welcomed, understood, and proud of who they are.
What Your Support Makes Possible
The money raised this Giving Day directly supports the heart of what we do. Your generosity helps us:
🌟 Keep BBYO accessible to every teenWe work hard to ensure finances are never a barrier. Donations support our bursary fund so more teens can attend national and international events - especially leadership training in the UK and abroad.
🌟 Train our teen leaders and volunteersBBYO’s peer-led model thrives because of well-trained, passionate teen leaders and the bogrim who support them. Giving Day helps fund home-grown leadership training, safeguarding, and development - led by the best experts of the UK Jewish charity world.
🌟 Provide weekly, safe Jewish spacesFor teens navigating rising antisemitism, high stress, or feeling socially isolated, weekly BBYO gatherings offer stability, belonging, and Jewish joy.
🌟 Support teens' mental health and wellbeingWith 1 in 5 teens experiencing a diagnosed mental health condition, BBYO provides a non-judgmental, inclusive, and caring environment where young people can take a breath, connect with peers, and feel understood.
🌟 Grow and reach more Jewish teens across the countryEvery donation helps expand our programming, strengthen chapters, and ensure that no teen misses out on the chance to discover what BBYO can offer.
How You Can Help Today?
We would be so grateful if you could support our teens by making a donation.One-time gifts help us meet immediate needs, while monthly donations sustain BBYO throughout the year.
👉 Donate now: www.bbyo.org.uk/givingday
You can make an even bigger impact by sharing the Giving Day link with family, friends, and on your social media or WhatsApp groups. Every share brings us closer to our £15,000 goal.
Together, We Can Give Jewish Teens the Space They DeserveBBYO is committed to creating the most radically inclusive Jewish teen community in the UK. With your support, we can continue providing the tools, confidence, and connection teens need to thrive — today, tomorrow, and for years to come.
Thank you for supporting BBYO UK Giving Day 2025. And thank you for supporting the next generation of Jewish leaders.
What experience as a Jewish teen shaped you the most? Share your story!
Shorashim Summer Camp 2025: Tisha B’Av reflection with our Maccabi Tzeir friends from Israel. We shared stories of resilience, sang together, and comforted one another through song and storytelling. BBYO has shaped the lives of UK teens for over 80 years! Post in the comments below how BBYO has impacted your life to this day! What was the moment that you look back on to this day that strengthens your connection with the wider Jewish community and your BBYO family?
Mitzvah Day!
23/11/25
This week for Mitzvah Day, BBYO UK partnered with Gift, participating in a ‘supermarket sweep.’ Teens competed to buy the most kosher food within the budget of £14, and at the end all the food was collected and will be used to feed a family of 4 for 2 weeks! Everyone had a great time and loved getting actively involved in charity and making a difference to our community! ❤️🎉
- Livvy
Our experience on ELTI
Last weekend six teens from BBYO UK attended BBYO's European Leadership Conference in Krakow, Polland. Noa E, Josie and Noa H, Evie. Emily and Giselle have shared their experiences of the trip below.
I’m Noa from BBYO UK and I’ve just spent the best weekend of my life at ELTI. I had the opportunity to learn leadership skills and volunteered with the local Roma community in Krakow. I also had the chance to connect with other Jewish teens from around Europe; sharing our cultures, traditions and experiences with antisemitism. We had the opportunity to learn how to lead Shabbat services as well as being a part of them and enjoying saying prayers with our friends. ELTI has shaped how I feel about my own Judaism and my place in the wider Jewish community. There was not a dull second on ELTI.
- Noa E
ELTI was an amazing experience, meeting new people, learning while doing fun activities, and getting to help others by doing community service and giving to charity, these were all such good experiences. I had the best time ever!
- Josie
Elti was such a fantastic experience where I learnt the true value of volunteering. I met so many amazing people and learned so much about their cultures. I was a weekend full of memories that I will never forget!
- Noa H
ELTI was an amazing experience and such a great introduction to BBYO internationally that I will never forget. I loved meeting teens from across Europe and doing community service was lots of fun but also incredibly meaningful. I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to go and I had the best time.
- Evie
ELTI was an incredible experience being able to see new and old friends and learning how to be a leader. I was able to take on such a big role, which elevated my experience so much more. I will never forget it!
- Emily
I think that elti was an amazing experience and I’m so glad that I got to go! I had so much fun and met so many wonderful people and made so many friends. It has made me feel even more connected to the BBYO community!!
- Giselle
Bristol Chapter
And After All, (Bristol), You’re my Wonderwall
When I sit at my desk to write the week’s programme, adorned on my walls are
lanyards, thank-you letters, and pictures from Shorashim. Occasionally, the
glossy laminate catches my eye and just for a second I’m taken back to those
precious carefree summers. These reminders make me remember why I run
Bristol BBYO: it’s a place where the teens - like I did - can find their home.
Our home is at Park Row Synagogue, where BBYO enjoys a healthy partnership. We use their space, and in return, we aim to make their kids engaged and empowered Jewish leaders. To me, Bristol is not merely a weekly activity: it’s a stepping stone for all involved to develop along their BBYO journey. That’s what I wanted to reflect on this week - where we’ve come from and where we’re going. The twisting roads that we’ve walked, and the difficulties we’ve overcome that have obscured our vision.
When Ricky offered me the position of Bristol fieldworker, I accepted without hesitation. Sure, it was going to be a lot of work. But you know what they say: when you love what you do you never work a day in your life. And so I approached the first chapter meeting with antsy anticipation. What were the teens going to be like? How many were we going to have? Could we make it a success?
Well - if first impressions were anything to go off of - it was going to be a bigger challenge than I intended. These were teens with the potential of being BBYO Teens, but they weren’t BBYO teens yet. Sure, they had the empathy and engagement that all involved bring to the chapter, but they were skeptical - and rightly so. Imagine if your parents instructed you to go and hang around with some floppy-haired uni student for a couple of hours when you could just sit on your phone before school started the next day.
Nonetheless, over the past year, I’d like to believe the teens have a reason to come back: they love it. At the time of writing, six teens have signed up for Winter Con, and this alone will make it the most special Winter Con in recent memory. From an embryonic plan in HQ to the tangible results BBYO has been able to deliver, truly, the growth of Bristol has been remarkable. But it’s very little to do with me: it’s the teens that attend each week; the parents that always want to chat about all things BBYO and how it can benefit their kids; and the trust from the local community that make this a special project.
So where are we going? I couldn’t tell you. Plans for the next couple of chapter programmes aside, the future is an open path with many different tributaries. But I won’t be on this journey alone. Guiding my decision will be a group of teens who have made a real difference on my university experience and they are the ones who will carry BBYO forward, however they choose to do it. Truthfully, I don’t think I could express how grateful I am for the opportunity. Because of my semantic failure, I’ll conclude my sentiments on a quote.
‘And all the roads we have to walk are winding;
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding;
There are many things I’d like to say to you;
But I don’t know how’ - Liam Gallagher
Thank you BBYO for everything you’ve done to support Bristol.
Yours sincerely,
A Damm Proud AZA,
Toby Ross
Update on Machane Choref 2025
Planning for Choref has officially begun!! We have been working hard alongside HQ and the Bogrim to organise the tochnit, the merch, the programmes and the theme for machane choref this year! We can’t wait to welcome you into the best winter con yet this December, keep your eyes peeled for updates on @bbyoukpresidents on Instagram where Annie and Hannah are posting weekly interactive winter con challenges. Make sure to sign up to secure a place on one of BBYO UK’s biggest events!!
The National Exec
Message from BBYO HQ
Dear BBYO Community,
The news emerging from Israel brings with it a mixture of emotions: hope, anticipation, and uncertainty. It seems that at any moment, Israel and Hamas may embark on a new chapter, one in which, at the very least, the living hostages will be returned to the warm embrace of their families and friends. We hope that a ceasefire will open the door to something lasting and peaceful.
This moment comes in the shadow of ongoing pain; from the horrific attack at Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, to the steady stream of antisemitism we have faced over the past months and years. On the surface, this should be a time of joy, a turning of the page. But we all know differently. Since the days of Tanakh, we have learned that joy and hope must walk hand in hand with comfort, reflection, and healing.
The Book of Eicha (Lamentations), read on Tisha B’Av, ends with the words “Chadesh yameinu k’kedem” renew our days as they were long ago. But perhaps this phrase can also mean renew our days as they were renewed once before. Each moment of renewal in Jewish history, after Egypt, after the destruction of Jerusalem, after exile, after the Inquisition, and after the Shoah - was not immediate joy, but a process of coming together, of collective care and courage.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of Hersh z”l, reminds us that repair is possible even if wholeness is not. Healing does not mean forgetting, it means holding each other through pain and allowing joy to coexist with memory.
When we bless the wine on Sukkot and Simchat Torah, we say “zman simchateinu, mikra kodesh, zecher l’yetziat mitzrayim” a time of joy, a sacred gathering, a remembrance of our Exodus from Egypt. Even in our happiest moments, we recall our hardest journeys. On Sukkot, we sit together in fragile, leaky sukkot - uncomfortable perhaps, but together. That is what makes it joyous.
As we pray for the hostages’ safe return and for peace to take root, let us also allow ourselves to feel everything this moment holds: relief, pain, exhaustion, and hope. Let us comfort one another, dance when we can, cry when we must, and continue to build community through it all.Today, Israel experienced the first rain of the season: the yoreh, a sign of new beginnings and growth after a long, dry summer.
Chadesh yameinu k’kedem.
May our days be renewed, as they have been time and again, with strength, peace, and healing.
BBYO Chapters 2025-26
Hi, my name is Evie Lightman and I'm so excited to be Deganya's president this year! This week we started the year off strong with our challah bake kickoff programme, and it was so good to see the smiles on members' faces as they made and plaited the dough. What makes Deganya so special is the community feeling that it provides, so seeing old members from last year return with so much energy and excitement for the year ahead really made me happy. We also had some new members this week and so we spent the first half of our programme with fun icebreakers and games for everyone to get to know each other. The thing that I love most about BBYO is the people in it - the family feeling that never fails to exist in all aspects of the movement. As president, I hope that we can continue to make BBYO feel like a home for all teens, and I can't wait for all of our future programmes!