Kallah was something that almost didn’t happen for me. I have to pay for all of my BBYO experiences, which include Kallah. This was something  I sadly didn’t have the budget for. I was so devastated because it was something I wanted to do. There were so many people telling me to go, and it broke my heart every time I had to say I couldn’t. One day, though, something happened. My mom got a call from Liron asking how they could help, and it changed everything. I was able to get merritt scholarships to be able to go, and I am so incredibly grateful! I first just want to take a second in here to thank Ari, Rabbi Meir, Liron, my parents, and anyone else who helped me to get to Kallah because it meant everything! 

Now onto how Kallah changed who I am! I remember the first days doing activities and discovering a lot about who I was. This made me so excited to see what I could learn and how I could change. Through Kallah, I learned so much about myself and Judaism. Limmuds helped me to learn a ton and also debate about different topics and learn other people’s perspectives! I would highly recommend Miriam, Ian, and Rabbi Brandon’s limmuds! From learning about Jewish texts to Israel, I learned so much! There is truly no way to put into words the amount of knowledge I learned from these people, and I will forever be grateful for it! This changed my Jewish identity because I learned more about myself and what I believed in! 

The evening programs helped to give us variety and learn from new Jewish educators. My favorite was the campfire conversations. This gave me an opportunity to talk to different teens and educators on hard topics and learn from different perspectives! There were so many unique programs that surrounded us in hard topics, but such incredible learning. 

I could talk about Kallah for days! I could talk about my incredible friends from all over the world, I could talk about every lesson I had and all of my thinking, I could talk about every amazing program and speaker we got to hear from, I could talk about Philly, or Maccabiah, and so much more! Kallah isn’t just about the friends, the learning, the speakers, or anything else; Kallah is about you. Kallah is about how you can change, how you can learn about yourself, and how you can grow! Kallah is like anything else in BBYO, you get out what you put in! So ask that educator for the extra time to learn in Chofesh, meet new people, have a debate, or a DMC you never thought you’d have, because you might just find yourself a whole new person at the end. I will always and forever recommend Kallah to anyone who asks because Kallah is transformative and will influence and change anyone who sets foot there! So, for anyone reading this, go to Kallah and take that next step!