Adi Shankman, a senior at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda and the newly elected international teen president of BBYO, knew he wanted to serve as president when he was wrapping tefillin in the Poconos.
Right after he became a bar mitzvah at Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County, Shankman was learning to wrap tefillin at BBYO’s International Kallah leadership program with some other teens from a BBYO chapter from Arizona. Three weeks later, he was asked by a couple of other teens to help them wrap tefillin.
“I was the person in that moment helping other people wrap tefillin. Three weeks before, it was me who was learning,” Shankman said. “I was in this moment of teaching and it gave me a shift in my mindset in BBYO. I want to be the person that’s here to help and here to bring light on my experience and show that any experience at BBYO is a meaningful one.”
Shankman will begin his term this summer, serving as the 102nd Grand Aleph Godol of high school fraternity Aleph Zadik Aleph alongside International Teen President Kayla Hertzberg, who will be serving as the Anita M. Perlman International N’siah of high school sorority B’nai Brith Girls.
They were elected by their peers at BBYO’s 2026 international convention February in Philadelphia.
“Adi and Kayla [are] both exceptionally compassionate, well-spoken and strong leaders that have found their own and grown into confidence in BBYO in ways that every person who goes through this movement will transform into and they truly are the best of the best,” said Logan Reich, 101st Grand Aleph Godol of BBYO.
Candidates for international teen president go through a three-month process from when the declaration of candidacy opens to elections in February. Reich said the entire process includes a multitude of self-reflection essay questions and interviews with BBYO professionals and team leaders so “candidates have a strong understanding of what it means to serve on the board.”
Then candidates produce materials such as vision statements, videos and answer questions in the election room on election day. Reich added this year, BBYO saw a record number of candidates run for the international board, with a little more than 50 candidates, including the first Israeli and the first Mexican international board members to be elected.
“We truly are finding ways to represent the diversity of the Jewish people, and this board is a representation of that,” he said. “I know that these leaders will continue to represent them. Adi and Kayla are equipped and capable and ready to represent that global perspective that BBYO has, the global movement that we are, and the wide range of perspectives, geographies, cultures and practices that that BBYO is a home to.”
For Shankman, becoming international teen president of BBYO is a part of his family legacy. He explained that both his uncle and father were regional presidents of the Delta region of BBYO, and his grandmother worked for BBYO. “They were overjoyed, and it was very exciting to continue sort of the BBYO legacy that my family has helped [create],” he said.
Prior to being elected president, Shankman served as BBYO’s 37th Grand Aleph Shaliach: the vice president of Jewish enrichment. He explained that his goals for the upcoming year are about strengthening Jewish identities around the globe.
Having his family come from Argentina, Shankman said he wants to focus on empowering Jewish communities outside the U.S.
“In a lot of places outside of the United States, it’s harder to be Jewish, and it’s harder to sort of maintain the strong identity in this passion that BBYO seeks to cultivate. So, it’s really just making sure that that we can be providing that for everyone.”
Shankman added that he wants every Jewish teen to leave a BBYO program “with a huge smile” or a meaningful experience, something he believes happens on a chapter level.
“My friend always talks about this simple idea of this click that happens with every teen in BBYO. Of this moment when you realize that it’s all so much bigger than just you, and how that click happens on the chapter level,” explained Shankman.
His goal, he said, is to not only strengthen chapter leadership, but to help other Jewish teens find that “click” moment, “that passion that keeps them coming back to BBYO.”
Shankman will be taking a gap year after graduating high school to serve as president and visit BBYO chapters, which are located in 60 countries.
“As Jewish teens and as the current and future leaders of the Jewish community, it’s important to metaphorically help others wrap tefillin and learn and grow amongst themselves and pass that on to other people,” Shankman said.
