On my honor...

One of the things that I have always found rather amazing is that there is not more interest in Scouting (Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and similar organizations) in the Jewish community, let alone the Orthodox Jewish community. I'm sure a good size of that aversion can be attributed to Bitul Torah, that one should study Torah sufficiently. Others would more glibly assert "We spent forty years camping in the desert! Wasn't that enough??"

I spent several years as a scout leader in Pack/Troop 392 in Milwaukee, WI. 392 is one of a number of Scout units in the United States that are Shomer Shabbat. These units observe Shabbat while camping, kashrut, and just about any other mitzvot you care to mention. Furthermore, the ethics and principles around Scouting are already closely aligned with our own as Jews. It is not that Scouting (in my mind) is Bitul Torah, but rather provides a practical framework for putting that learning into practice in our society, but providing children and teenagers an environment for exercising leadership and teamwork skills.

Even if it involves building a trebuchet to hurl a potato a few hundred feet, but I digress.

Recently, Michael Freed, a Cantor at Congregation Beth Shalom in Long Beach, CA, published an open map of observant scout units in the United States. [The map could just as easily list such units outside the US, but no such units have so listed themselves.] There are units listed in the New York City area, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago and Rochester (Yes, Rochester!) NY. I would encourage you, if you have kids, to check into this activity for them as an alternative to soccer, swimming, or tennis (let alone Nintendo, Pokemon, or other activities). The level of observance I'm sure will vary from unit to unit. Nominally, these are all observant groups, but at a basic level, we are all Jews, and some of these units may put our faith into practice in a manner other then which you are accustomed. Still, this is an activity that ought to get greater play (pun unintended) in our community.

Shabbat Shalom