YOUTH

Corporate Power

The new international president of BBYO
is an unusual teen from Detroit.

j

He expects to hit
every U.S. state
and Canadian
province, plus four
or five countries to
boot.

"It is also a fraternal thing:
the truth is that every pro-
gram is a social program," he
said.
Fraternalism is part of
Jason's approach. He is, accor-
ding to BBYO Michigan
Regional Director Arnie
Wiener, well-liked by his
peers.
"We talked about the per-
sonal influence he can have

ENERATION

ason Porth is your aver-
age kid. Your average
kid with a laptop corn-
puter, a telephone dialer, a
$12,000 travel budget, his
own telephone line, allocating
power over a $400,000 budget
and the responsibility to help
35,000 constituents around
the world.
So he's not an average kid.
He's the newly elected presi-
dent of B'nai B'rith Youth
Organization (BBYO) Inter-
national, the largest Jewish
youth group in the world.
Fresh from his electoral vic-
tory in August, he is about to
embark on a year of travel —
he expects to hit every U.S.
state and Canadian province,
plus four or five countries to
boot. The 18-year-old put col-
lege off for a year just to have
the job.
His responsibilities include
helping local chapters around
the world attract members,
develop programming and
groom leaders. The last time
someone from Detroit held
that position was in 1964.
For Jason, • the job is a
dream come true. He has been
involved in BBYO for over
four years, having served as a
chapter president, regional
president and then vice presi-
dent of AZA, the boys' divi-
sion of BBYO. He sees this
new role as an opportunity to
take his main concern —
Jewish identity — to the at-
tention of many Jewish
youth.
"For many of our members,
this is their only link to
Judaism," he said. "And
that's what concerns me."
Jason talks rapidly about
the problems of American
Jewish youth. His speech is
peppered with the energy of a
new recruit to Jewish com-
munal life. Difference is, he's
already in charge.
"The important thing is
that BBYO gives them
(Jewish youth) a positive
Jewish experience. But it
shouldn't stop there," he said.
"Who's going to carry on

Jewish traditions when our
grandparents and our parents
pass away?"
A graduate of North Farm-
ington High and 'Temple Beth
El's high school, Jason will be
taking that message to hun-
dreds of chapters across the
world. He will go to Europe to
participate in the March of
the Living, an event that
brings thousands of Jewish
youth to Poland's concentra-
tion camp sites as an act of
mass remembrance. Two
other trips will take him to
Israel. Along the way, he will
be in constant contact with
chapters: the last BBYO
president received about 20
letters a day and returned
every one of them within 24
hours.
But while his audience is
young, Jason wants to make
BBYO chapters into more
than social organizations.
Besides, he said, membership
doesn't grow because of ice
cream socials.
"The truth is if you make a
kid feel useful in the com-
munity, he'll come out to
help," he said. A pet project of
the departing BBYO Interna-
tional president, Dallas' Doug
Levy, was Habitat for
Humanity, a program that
builds housing for the
homeless. The project, Jason
said, was successful because
it made youth feel useful.

Photo by Glenn Triest

NOAM M.M. NEUSNER

Staff Writer

Jason Porth is looking forward to a year of leadership and travel.

as a role model," said Mr.
Wiener. "His ability to speak
on an issue is so wonderful."
Mr. Wiener and Jason are
hoping that through col-
legialism, individual
chapters, which must by
B'nai B'rith rules remain
small, will become motivated.

His election, on Aug. 18,
came after he secured a ma-
jority of the 160 delegates at
BBYO's international conven-
tion in Starlight, Pa. Many of
the delegates, Jason said,
were concerned about the
financial security of the youth
group.

Canada's B'nai B'rith
recently curtailed BBYO fun-
ding. American BBYO
regions are being condensed
to cut staff. Some BBYO pro-
grams are feeling the crunch.
But Jason remains optimistic.
"We're really managing
well," he said. "We realize the
money has to go to other
places and more important
things, like Soviet resettle-
ment."
But Jason will still have to
allocate $400,000 for athrkin-
istrative costs and another
$60,000 raised by chapters for
charitable projects, like a
world disaster fund, scholar-

ships and restoring or reprin-
ting Yiddish books.
All this work, Jason
recognizes, will take its toll.
He has deferred his freshman
year at Brandeis University
for a year. But with dreams of
becoming a heavy-duty
Washington lobbyist, he
knows he'll have to hit the
books when he gets to college.
"It'll be hard to settle down
and pick up a book after a
year of traveling,". he said.
"It'll take a lot of concentra-
tion."
But with a track record like
Jason's, it shouldn't be too
hard.

❑

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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