Nearly one-third of area Jewish high school students belong to the Wisconsin Region-B’nai B’rith Youth Organization. “That’s pretty good penetration,” said Richard Kessler, regional director. “And our membership is up from 320 to 420 over last year,” he boasted.
As a constituent agency of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, BBYO receives an annual allocation. For the past two years, it has received $55,615, the major portion of which is funded from Community Campaign dollars. In addition, it receives funding for specific programming through the grants committee of the Jewish Community Foundation, MJF’s endowment development program.
The organization has 10 chapters in Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay. The teens plan and participate in a wide variety of social, cultural, athletic, religious and social action programs within their own communities and statewide, and with other Jewish young people from across the country.
Among BBYO’s active members is Mequon’s Michael Oxman, who, as a freshman in high school, joined Bereshis AZA. Busy with school work and athletics, his commitment to BBYO developed only a few years ago.
During his sophomore year, his friend Lisa Heilbronner, the region’s current BBG president, convinced him to go to the Wisconsin Regional Winter Convention.
“That was a turning point for me. I liked it so much that I knew I wanted to be more involved and ended up running for chapter vice president the next year,” he said in a telephone interview.
Admitting that he likes leadership positions, he said it didn’t take much for BBYO advisors and past presidents to persuade him to seek the region’s top spot the next year — despite some concerns on the part of his parents, Herb and Anda Oxman, “who worried for me to take on one more thing,” he said.
You see, the now Homestead High School senior is an honor student, nationally ranked diver and a member of Homestead’s student council — all of which compete for his time.
However, he has been able to manage his academically challenging classes and daily diving practice with the rigors of heading the state’s largest Jewish youth organization of some 420 teens.
Said Oxman, “I’ve learned to balance things in my life and am so glad I made the choice to run for AZA president. Though I can’t go to all of the leadership conferences it offers because they’re held in the summer, which is when national diving meets are held, I feel I have gained so much from the experience in terms of strengthening my Judaism and Jewish identity.
“After my bar mitzvah and confirmation [at Congregation Shalom], my Judaism was just sort of there. So, I have been able to continue the importance of my Judaism through BBYO. It’s really become a big part of who I am.”
Oxman is passionate about everything he does. His enthusiasm for athletics began when he was just two years old in a “Mommy and Me” class at the North Shore Academy of Gymnastics in Cedarburg.
“I competed nationally in gymnastics through eighth grade in all six events. I think the floor exercise was my best event, and I placed 20th nationally in the Level Three age category.
“By the time I was eight, I was diving simultaneously with gymnastics. The movements from gymnastics were similar to diving — except in gymnastics you never want to land on your head and in diving that’s the point. Gymnastics really prepared me for the spinning, flipping and twisting capabilities needed for diving.”
He placed third in nationals in the 10-meter platform competition. His “back one-and-a-half somersault with three-and-a-half twist” is his favorite dive. As of August 2001, he was ranked 10th in the country in the 10-meter platform and in the top 20 in both the one-meter and three-meter springboard events.
For five years, Oxman rotated his time between the two sports until it was time for high school. “I knew I would eventually have to make a choice, and since high schools don’t offer boys gymnastics, the decision was easy. Also, by that time, I preferred diving because it was more fun.”
Now, he is being recruited by eight universities and plans to sign a letter of intent by the end of the month. His goal is to be ready for the 2004 Olympic trials. The top 15 divers in the country are invited to the trials.
“I’ll be a college sophomore then and hope to meet all the placement requirements for tryouts by that time. I hadn’t met all the standards for the 2000 games,” he said.
Noting that while the quality of a university’s diving program is important, he is also concerned about its academics as well. “I’m not going to make my living as a diver,” he laughed. He plans to major in international business.
While juggling BBYO, diving practice and homework, Oxman has learned to prioritize his activities. Though dinner is usually “fashionably late” around 8 p.m., he manages “to get it all in. School work comes first, then diving, then BBYO and then friends — but they are really mixed into all my activities.”
Crediting his parents with a lot of support, he said it’s not his inclination to shy away from something because it’s too much work. “I feel BBYO has given me and probably most teens a positive Jewish affiliation experience which I plan to continue in college and as an adult.”
Kessler added, “The positive outcome of BBYO can be seen in the Jewish community in Milwaukee. BBYO provides Jewish teenagers, at a time when testing boundaries and staking independence is a high priority, an opportunity to participate in informal Jewish education, which has been shown to be the overwhelming factor, after family, that influences Jewish identity.”
In recruiting other kids to join BBYO, Oxman said, “I tell them it’s a unique organization because it is youth-led. And you have a chance to meet all sorts of people from all over. The biggest thing is that we all share Jewish values. I guess I’d tell parents that we do good things in a safe environment.”
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