From: saal@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (samuel.saal)
Subject: Re: BofA and UW can now support discrimination against blacks and Jews
Organization: liver ---> spleen
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 20:09:24 GMT

I'd like to add a couple of observations based on my experience as a Boy
Scout.

In article <1992Aug21.174821.29949@cbnewsl.cb.att.com>
stank@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Stan Krieger) writes:

>Carl M. Kadie writes:

>For the benefit of soc.culture.jewish readers who are seeing this
>issue for the first time, here is some background.  (As all of
>you probably know, I am a Jew whose affiliation is Conservative;
>I'm also active in my son's Boy Scout Troop.)

And for the sake of background, I am undoubtedly significantly further
to the right from Stan.  My synagogue affiliation is Orthodox; my first
(Cub Scout) pack and (Boy Scout) troop were affiliated with an
left-leaning Orthodox shul while my second troop was sponsored by a
right-leaning Conservative synagogue.  I was active in troop leadership
and my mother was a Den Mother for the Cubs.

>The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is NOT just "another youth group",
>but rather is an organization that expects its members to live by
>a code of conduct.  The POSITIVE virtures and ideals that constitute
>this code of conduct is contained in the Scout Law and Scout Oath.

Agreed.

... description of Kadie's complaint and BSA stance deleted for brevity,
_not_ for disagreement with Stan.

>Regarding BSA and Judaism, there are day schools and synagogues
>that charter BSA units (such as Cub Scout Packs and Boy Scout
>Troops), and there is a National Jewish Committee on Scouting that
>had made religious awards (Maccabee for Tiger Cubs, Aleph for
>Cub Scouts, and Ner Tamid for Boy Scouts) available (my son
>has the Aleph and Ner Tamid).

I was the second Cub in NJ to receive the Aleph award and the Ner Tamid
had been around for a long time when I earned it.  These awards, as with
just about all Scouting awards and ranks were accessible yet were not
trivial even for the most observant.  It was reletively easy for me to
acheive them - for example, continued synagogue attendance (I don't recall
how many months were required) was something I didn't have to begin doing
for the award.  I had been doing it all along.  My main efforts were in
organizing the materials for the required presentation.

>                               Here in New Jersey, the local
>Jewish Committee on Scouting sponsors a Kinus at a Boy Scout
>camp the first weekend in May, and the needs of Jews of all
>affiliations are met (i.e., both Orthodox and Egalitarian services;
>full kashruth; full Shabbat observance).

The Conservative synagogue that sponsored my troop always had a "Boy Scout
Sabbath" in which scouts were to participate in and/or lead sections of
the service.  This really meant standing up and leading the responsive
English readings that were part of the service.

>Finally, a few days ago, the bimonthly issue of Scouting magazine
>(the one sent to adult leaders) had an article about a Boy Scout
>camp in the Catskills (sounded like it's about 20 miles south of
>Monticello) that for a few weeks is strictly kosher and Shomer
>Shabbat.  I recognized some of the Troops that go there as Troops
>I've seen at the May Kinus in New Jersey.

I can't remember the names, but there was one Boy Scout camp (it may well
have been in the Catskills) that was kosher.  I attended it for a couple
weeks one summer.  Rumor had it that the scouts found it cheaper to buy
the meat for all the area's scout camps from kosher butchers to save
money.  Bacon,  sauseges, and other specifically treif cuts they ever
served were bought separately and brought to the other camps.  As I said,
this was just a rumor.  The Mashgiach and his family had a cabin on the
camp grounds and attended (he may have lead) davening.  He was undoubtedly
Orthodox (at least that was my impression from his Chassidic-looking long
coat).

>Religious-wise, I have never seen an organization that, although
>obviously using Christianity as its model, has a religious
>requirement for membership that manages to totally respect the
>religious rights of Jews and adherents of all other religions.
>The positive virtues expected by BSA are virtures that an
>organization should be proud of;

Absolute agreement, here.
-- 
Sam Saal      kingfish!saal OR saal@kingfish.att.com
		Note new machine name
	Vayiftach HaShem et Peah Ha`Aton