On February 17, my brother Yehuda had his Eagle Scout court of honour in Montreal. It is an honour to have a younger brother follow in my footsteps. In  November 1999 I had my Eagle Scout court of honour which you can read about here.

Only a small precent of boys who start out in the scouting system ever achieve Eagle Scout, and very few orthodox Jewish boys have done so.

You can read a complete review of the ceremony and see pictures here

Sadly I was unable to attend as I am in Australia, which is a bit of a distance from Canada. However I sent in the following letter which was read at the court of honour:

February 17, 2013

Dear Yehudah,

Mazal tov and congratulations on becoming Eagle Scout.

I regret that I cannot be there personally with you to celebrate with you, the family, your friends and fellow scouts

I do not know who is present in the room with you, but if Dr. Howard Spielman is there, I’d like to thank you for everything you have done to help Yehudah on his journey. Many of you may have no idea the amount of work and dedication it takes from a scoutmaster to move a scout from the beginning of the system thorough till the end. I know from experience, the countless hours Dr.   Spileman and the other leaders of the troop gave me in on my own journey to Eagle Scout.

The same goes for you, Yehudah; those who have not achieved Eagle scout may not fully appreciate what it means. The time, effort, dedication and commitment you have put in over the years.

You have been blessed and fortunate to have been in scouting along with other members of the family; Avi, Reuven, and and of course our dear mother, who has been very active in the troop over the last decade.

Achieving Eagle Scout is a challenge in itself, doing it while keeping Kosher and Shabbat is doubly so. It takes an expert camper to set up a camp that functions in accordance with all the laws of the Sabbath.  

You or lucky and blessed to have the support of both the family, and the Jewish Scouting community. Not only is there no need to compromise in ones Jewish believes and ideals, numerous individuals have dedicated so much of their time that they have made it possible for the Jewish scout to excel in his Judaism while actively participating in scouting.

Yehudah, be sure to thank as many of these people as you may know.

Arthur Rose Eldred was born in New York in 1895 and went on to become the first Eagle Scout. Like today’s Eagle Scouts, Arthur earned 21 merit badges: Civics, Cooking, Cycling, Electricity, Firemanship, First Aid to Animals, Gardening, Handicraft, Horsemanship, Interpreting of French, Life Saving, Painting, Pathfinding, Personal Health, Poultry Farming, Public Health, Swimming, Chemistry, Dairying, Business, and Plumbing.

Over the years in scouting, the uniform has changed, merit badges have come and gone. Perhaps they could put back ‘interpreting of French,’ that would have been an easy one for you Yehuda.,….However the core has remained the same. The scouting oath of today is the same as it were over 100 years ago.

[PAUSE]

The greatest thing scouting has thought me is that there is no limit to how much I can achieve. You can earn as many or as little merit badges as you choose. Do the bare minimum for an Eagle scout service project or do something grand that involves the entire country. Sure there are practical things we learn in scouts that come in handy, like first aide, personal fitness, and building a weather rock. Scouting has also taught you about, self discipline, dedication, and leadership skills. Yet still I believe that the greatest thing scouting teaches us is to take responsibility for our lives and not set any limits. Perhaps some of the following individuals, all eagle scouts learned this lesson and look at what they went on to achieve:

• Neil Armstrong – the first man on moon
• Michael Bloomberg – Mayor of New York City, founder of Bloomberg News
• Steven Spielberg – famous movie producer
• Sam Walton – Founder of Wal-Mart
• William Devries – M.D., transplanted the first artificial heart
• And Steven Fossett –one of my favourites: the guy who  flew solo nonstop around the world in a hot air balloon and in an ultralight airplane, won the Chicago to Mackinaw boat races, and competed in several iron man triathlons, and among other things lived the Scouting mottos both Cub and Boy Scout by doing his best and being prepared His father, an Eagle Scout, encouraged Fossett to pursue these types of adventures and encouraged him to become involved with the Boy Scouts early. At age 13, Fossett earned Eagle Scoutand was a Vigil Honor member of the OA, The order of the Arrow Order of the Arrow, the Boy Scouts’ honor society, where he served as lodge chief.  Fossett said in 2006 that Scouting was the most important activity of his youth

Scouting and Judaism do not contradict each other. Far from it. They compliment on another. This same principle that “you can do and achieve as much as you want,’ has been used by our sages since the beginning of our people. There is no limit to how much Torah you could study, how much kindness you can do, and how much you can strive to grow and improve yourself through prayer, meditation, and introspection. Like Scouting Judaism has changed over the years and will continue to change. The collor of the uniform, the print of our prayer books like the print of the scouting handbook. But focus on the core of what Judaism is about, and the core of what scouting is about, and when you merged the two you have something truly magnificent.

Once again congratulations, and Mazal tov,

-Binyamin

Rabbi Plays Alp Horn on Swiss Air flight

My Dad cracks me up! He got the pilot’s permission on his Swiss Air flight from Israel to Montreal, to let him play a song on the alphorn on the airplane. I give my dad credit, he’s not shy!

#FirstWorldProblems – What do you think of the Haitian ad?

You might have stumbled across this video recently:

It features Haitians, living in difficult third world conditions, reading out Tweets from people who use the hashtag #FirstWorldProblems. I personally think it’s a brilliant marketing campaign.  Having traveled so much in third world conditions, I have a different perspective on these kinds of things.  What we feel are inconveniences in the first world are luxuries in the third world.  It’s kind of like hearing a rich celebrity complain that the millions of dollars they are being paid for their next movie just isn’t enough.  Anybody in their right mind would say, “Come on, I’d act in that for a quarter of what you’re getting!”  It just strikes us as absurd.  But the same thing is true of #firstworldproblems to people in the third world.  Complaining about a phone charger cord not being long enough is insulting when so many people in the world live without electricity.

Personally, I like this ad because I think it’s a good reality check for the majority of the world who don’t get to travel and see the real life billions of people are living.  However, some people are upset by it because they claim the hashtag “firstworldproblems” is itself pointing out that the complaint is trivial.  Regardless of the intent of the person using this hashtag on Twitter, this ad is still a good reality check. That is what it is meant to be, and it serves its purpose.

At least that’s what I think!!

Dear Babies,

Have you often felt left out of the Tisha B’Av rituals? Do you feel ignored because your parents refuse to deprive you of food and drink on this holiday of mourning? Do you want to help bring a feeling of mourning into your family’s lives?

NOW YOU CAN!

Just follow these easy steps to help your parents get into that Tisha B’Av mourning spirit!

1) Make a HUGE poopy diaper.  Be sure to poop enough that it squishes at least halfway up your back and down into the toes of your sleeper.

2) When being changed from said huge poopy diaper, squirm as much as possible and flail your arms and legs about. With luck, this will further extend your poopy coating even as far as your head! Be sure to get some on anything near you, especially expensive furniture and the person (or people) attempting to change you.

3) When you are completely clean again, but before a new diaper has been put on, poop some more.  Try your best to get some on the clothing and skin of whoever is changing you – remember, they can’t take a shower or do laundry!

4) Once you are clean and dressed, poop again in your new diaper. Bonus points if you can produce enough to repeat steps 1-3!

5) While you are being changed and nobody is watching your upper half, spit up everywhere. Be sure to coat all of your new clothing, face, and chest.

6) After being changed into clean clothes, pee everywhere. If you are a boy, make sure to aim for as many targets as possible.  Bonus points for hitting yourself (clean clothes and head), any other people in the vicinity, expensive furniture, carpeting, bedsheets, and pillows. This is a great time to practice your range!

7) After being changed again, wait a little while and when nobody is expecting it, spit up some more. Bonus points if you manage to spit up all over an unsuspecting adult.

8 ) Refuse to sleep when you are supposed to.  Wail loudly or whine in the highest pitch possible within human hearing range the entire time.

9) If your mother is exclusively breastfeeding, be sure to eat as much as possible – even more than normal.  This will assist you with steps 1-7!

10) Repeat as many of the above steps as many times as possible throughout the day.   This will help create an atmosphere of true mourning in your home!

PS – For those of you who love when we include photos, aren’t you glad we DIDN’T this time???!

What is right or wrong about this picture? Some would say, “How can you put tefillin on this monk?” while others would smile and say well done.

I’m not sure who is who in the photo. It was circulating around and if you know who the people are in it please let me know so I can give credit.

Anyway; is it okay to put tefillin on a monk? The simple answer would be, if he’s Jewish then why not? This is pretty much the case. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew, no matter what he may do, that is until he converts to another religion… yet even then he is still a Jew.

A problem I could see would be to put tefillin on someone if they were wearing the clothing of an idolater. Certainly if an idol was hanging around their neck it would be a problem, because you should not come close to such a thing, thus how could you put tefillin on the person? However when it comes to the clothes, it would be important to know what they represent. Is it idol worship in itself or does it show a way of life? You could not do a mitzvah with someone while they were worshiping an idol at the same time. It could perhaps be like the person going to the mikvah to ritually purify himself while holding onto a dead lizard, which continues to cause impurity.

However if the person say had G-d forbid put on a baptismal white robe and was on the way to be baptised, you should of course try and do a mitzvah with them because this could awaken their neshama (Jewish soul) and hopefully lead them to change their mind.

Overall it’s best not to think too much. If an opportunity presents itself to put tefillin on someone, go for it. When the Lubavitcher Rebbe first instituted the idea that men and boys should go out and put tefillin on with other Jews, there were some rabbis who spoke out against it. They said things like, “They are putting tefillin on goyim!” or “How can you put tefillin on in the streets where there is dog poo and immodestly dressed women?”

In my opinion these are concerns and I’m sure that the Lubavitcher Rebbe considered them. However, they are minor in comparison with what can be achieved by a Jew putting on tefillin. An old Jewish man in a monk’s robe is in a state of a spiritual emergency. He needs something to jump start the neshama, like jumpstarting a stopped heart with a defibrillator. This pushes aside a concern that there may be dog poo in the area.

Anyway, I did not mean to get into a whole long post here. I just wanted to share this photo.