FORWARD - November 6, 1998, page 18

Pass the Kosher Marshmallows,
These Boy Scouts Say

They Go On Long Hikes,
Learn Complicated Knots and earn Merit Badges for Mitzvot

By GARY SHAPIRO

It resembles a scene from-Norman Rockwell: boys wearing neckerchiefs gathered in a circle around a campfire, practicing bowline knots, building lean-tos, singing songs and toasting marshmallows. But, if you look closely at the packaging of the s’mores ingredients (graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows) and other camp food, they just might be kosher.

Jews have been active in scouting leadership since it came to America in 1910. "It gave us the good gang to belong to," Charles Posner, a Scout in the 1950s, recalls. Today, dedicated troop leaders and Scouts are keeping the tradition of Jewish scouting in America alive.

The Boy Scouts of America charter requires all troops to be sponsored by an affiliated organization, many of which are religious. Jewish community centers around the country, as well as day schools and synagogues are troop sponsors. The National Jewish Committee on Scouting oversees about 300 such troops, says its chairman, Jerrold Lockshin. It offers five levels of religious awards with requirements including home observance, synagogue worship and the completion of service projects with Jewish themes.

To become an Eagle Scout (scouting’s culminating achievement), one must complete one large project of more than 50 hours work. Jewish Scouts have taken on projects in their Jewish communities to obtain certification as an Eagle Scout. Asher Walkover set up a Torah scroll registry in which the 18 Torah scrolls of Congregation Ahavath Achim were marked with tiny perforations in certain parts of the scroll, so that they could be identified should they ever be stolen. Ben Schiffman’s Eagle Scout project included arranging and delivering Purim baskets to Sephardic nursing homes.

A leader in the Northeast Region of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting, Rabbi Arthur Vernon, notes with pride that the kinds of Jewish organizations sponsoring troops "run the gamut" and draw Jews from "virtually every segment."

But Reform organizations sponsor a very small number of troops, says the camp and youth coordinator of the Greater Lakes Region of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Jerry Kaye. This may be because there are reservations about BSA’s policy of excluding those who are gay, female or atheist from the position of troop leader. The national spokesperson for the Boy Scouts of America, Gregg Shields, says that many state courts have upheld the BSA position. A private voluntary organization may set its own standards," Mr. Shields says. The Reform movement is troubled by this policy. "We dearly have concerns and disagreements with BSA about both their treatment-of gays and lesbians as well as religious liberties issues, such as requiring their members to profess a belief in God," says the associate director of the Religious Action Center, of Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C., Mark Pelavin.

"I am particularly concerned that the National Committee on Jewish Scouting has not confronted the Boy Scouts of America on this issue directly," Mr. Kaye says.

More Orthodox than Reform institutions sponsor troops, among them Brooklyn's Derech HaTorah (formerly Yeshiva Mizrachi L'Banim), Yeshiva of Manhattan Beach and Yeshiva of Flatbush. Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Schneerson gave Troop #611, based at Brooklyn, a blessing, encouraging ".Scouting for Yiddishkeit." However, some rabbis are distant and refuse to let their yeshiva students participate, Troop #611’s leader, Michael Poretsky, says.

Mr. Poretsky’s troops and others that are composed of observant Scouts seem to have carved out a comfortable niche in the world of scouting. On camping trips, some of Mr. Poretsky's Scouts share tephillin. "Every ounce counts. Even though they are half-a-pound, after a few days of hiking, every pound can weigh a ton," Mr. Poretsky says.

A troop based at Silver Spring, Maryland, cleverly chose their troop number (613) to match the number of mitzvot. Next summer, Troop #613 will join the Teaneck-based Troop #226 on a trip to the National Parks in Utah.

Boy Scout camps have been sensitive to Orthodox needs and requirements. "When we need poles for an eruv, they give us them. When we need to arrive before sundown, they let us in early," Lynn Posner, Mr. Posner’s wife, recalls. "But since we can’t light fires on Sabbath, we tend to take a cabin, where heat can be left on, which can be a bit more expensive. Philmont, the mountainous so-called "high-adventure" Boy Scouts of America camp at New Mexico,

has a "rabbi in residence" during the summer.

Recently, Lubavitch rabbis from Brooklyn attended the National Camp School. "This enabled a better fit between the Lubavitcher Youth Organization, which supplies chaplains, and the Boy Scouts of America, which oversee the camps," Rabbi Vernon says.

Non-Jewish Scouts seem respectful of their Jewish peers. "At camp, when the Scouts come within earshot of the Jewish chapel, they cease their banter until they have passed further down the road," says Judy Poretsky, Mr.. Poretsky's wife. Scouting has also opened up boys' lives to the world beyond the yeshiva. "It is limiting for yeshiva students to go through their youth interacting only with others like themselves, when many are going to have to learn to live in a larger world," says Mrs. Posner.

Every four years, the National Scout Jamboree convenes on a converted army base in Virginia, drawing 40,000 Scouts from America and overseas. The Lubavitchers donate materials for making shofars and monogramming yarmulkes. The Israeli Scout Caravan usually performs songs and dances for the event, as one stop on a world tour.

Scouting in Israel is coeducational, unlike scouting in America, where the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are completely separate, with cordial relations but little organizational interaction. The Israeli Boy & Girl Scout Federation was formally started in 1953, although some form of scouting existed as early as 1919 at Palestine.

In America, despite individual scouting successes, the larger trend of assimilation may be decreasing the number of Jewish Scouts affiliated with Jewish troops. "I go to meetings of Jewish war veterans, and four guys show up. Hadassah and other groups have had difficulty keeping membership over generations. Jewish scouting has been Similarly affected," Mr. Lockshin says. Mr. Lockshin says that 8,000 boys participate in troops sponsored by Jewish organizations. Including boys in all other troops, there are about 40,000 Jewish Scouts among 3.5 million in America.

With more troop leaders like Mr. Poretsky, perhaps these numbers will increase. He and his wife keep busy leading a troop of Boy Scouts and a pack of Cub Scouts, in addition to serving leadership roles at a regional level. But they're expanding their roles even further. They are starting what they believe to be the first Orthodox Girl Scout troop in the New York area. He also says there are no Jewish troops in Manhattan, but he'd like to start one.

Mr. Shapiro is a writer living in New York.