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