BBYO is an organization built on friendships, programming, traditions and teen leadership. Since Nordaunian AZA #22 was founded on April 18, 1926, it has worked hard to cultivate all of these things.
As we approach 100 years of Nordaunian, my peers and I are bringing back a staple of Kansas City BBYO: the fabled Matzo Ball. Matzo Ball has brought together hundreds of teens, parents and community members alike for this yearly celebration. Over the past 85 years, the community has rallied around this annual event to raise tens of thousands for both BBYO locally and other causes.
Like many things, COVID was especially disruptive for BBYO in Kansas City. When I joined BBYO after COVID, one thing lost was the transfer of tradition from senior to freshman and leader to future leader. We lost many important traditions that were normally carried from generation to generation, and this is clearly visible for the Matzo Ball dance. Having never attended a Matzo Ball made planning the dance challenging for me, my co-chair Naftali Tilove and Chapter President Justin Parmet, along with our board, who had to learn how to put on an event of this magnitude. We have worked hard to connect with Nordaunian alumni and those with experience planning and attending the dance because none of our committee members had experienced the dance firsthand. I am thrilled to announce that after six years of being dormant and countless questions of “What happened to Matzo Ball?” it will return on April 5.
Although the vacancy that Matzo Ball left has been hard to overcome, one thing that never challenged us was the enthusiastic support from the community in all aspects of planning. This support stems from Amy Ravis Furey, senior regional director of Mid-America BBYO and former Matzo Ball queen, who is personally invested in bringing back this tradition, together with the support of our dedicated advisor, Brayden Cardozo.
We are especially honored to feature six amazing candidates: Bea Colbert, junior at Pembroke Hill School; Ali Luetje, sophomore at The Barstow School; Norah Pabst, sophomore at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy (HBHA); Sami Sandler, junior at Blue Valley High School; Ruby Sokol, sophomore at HBHA; and Orli Zigler, sophomore at HBHA. The winning candidate selected on the evening of the event will attend Nordaunian programming for the coming year.
As a part of our mission to serve our community, we are proud to announce we will be supporting the JFS Food Pantry by collecting non-perishable food at the event as well as making a financial contribution to support the amazing work they do in our community. We are especially interested in collecting matzo ball soup mix, or any other soup, to meet the needs of those who are food insecure in our community.
We are bringing the tradition of Matzo Ball back just in time for Nordaunian to turn 100 in April of 2026. Our goal is to engage with our alumni whose love and everlasting memories of how impactful BBYO was for them will allow them to pass these feelings on to the next generation of teens. Our hope is to reconnect every generation of BBYO from the last 100 years and help propel Kansas City BBYO to prosperity for the next 100 years.
We hope you will help us further achieve our goals and honor our current candidates by attending Matzo Ball or by donating to Nordaunian directly. We hope that in bringing back the storied tradition, it elicits excitement and joy as we prepare to celebrate our 100th birthday next year.
To learn more about KC BBYO, Matzo Ball or to make a contribution to Nordaunian AZA #22, please contact Amy Ravis Furey at or (917) 690-6946.