Jewish girls participate in local Scout troop
Nina Baran was frustrated watching her younger brother, Isaac, participating in Boy Scout Troop 61 at Congregation Beth Shalom.
Nina had been a Girl Scout when she was younger, but it wasn’t for her. As she watched Isaac learn how to build fires and go on camping trips, she knew that was the kind of Scouting she wanted to do, but at that time the Scouts was not open to girls.
Then in the fall of 2018, Scouts BSA (formerly Boy Scouts of America) announced they were opening its program to girls. Seeing Nina’s immediate interest, her mother, Andrea Baran, hoped to start a Jewish girls’ troop. It takes a minimum of five members to start a troop, and they couldn’t find enough girls who could make the commitment.
At that same time, the Church of the Resurrection was putting together its own girls’ troop and needed more members. Baran worked with COR leaders to create a girls’ troop with intentional Jewish connections. There are plenty of other Jewish kids in the community involved in other troops, Baran said, but there’s something different about being part of a troop like the one at COR.
“One of the basic tenets of Scouting is that Scouting is open to people of all religions, and even people who don’t necessarily have a specific religion but some acknowledgement of religion or belief,” said Baran. “To me, it’s important (the Jewish Scouts) see their own belief system reflected in Scouting.”
New troop forms
In February 2019, Baran, COR leaders and a group of seven girls founded Troop 792. The troop has grown to 15 girls, with three Jewish members and two or three more Jewish girls expected to join soon.
Troop 792 is open to girls of all religions but is run with specific thought to Jewish Scouting experiences and meeting the needs of its Jewish Scouts, Baran said. That includes everything from planning campouts and meals in line with their level of observance to creating opportunities to earn Jewish Scouting awards and participating in Scout Shabbat.
open to all girls, but has an “intentionally Jewish” focus. (Submitted)
The troop has lit Shabbat and Havdalah candles at campouts and summer camps. Last year, the troop hosted Sunday services at summer camp, and a couple of non-Jewish Scouts decided to attend because they wanted to experience a Jewish prayer service for the first time.
Sherri Jacobs, whose daughter Rachel is one of the founding members of the troop, and her family keep kosher, so Sherri got the summer camp menu in advance and made all the kosher food for the troop. Troop 792 became known as “the kosher table,” and when other troops would join the table, they’d ask the girls questions about what it meant to be kosher.
“(Being part of a Jewish troop) is another opportunity for diversity and collaboration,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs said that although her daughter wasn’t initially interested in joining Scouts (she was just 10 at the time and thought she would be the only girl in a troop of boys) she fell in love with it after attending her first meeting. Jacobs appreciates that Scouts is kid-led, giving them the opportunity to develop leadership skills while the parents act more as mentors.
Much to learn
Both Jacobs and Baran like the range of skills Scouts learn. There are 150 merit badges covering everything from personal fitness to entrepreneurship and crime prevention, but much of the program is focused on outdoor and lifesaving skills. This includes camping, hiking, gardening, cooking, basic first aid, wilderness survival and more.
“They learn skills that they don’t learn in other parts of their lives,” Baran said, “and to tie that in and say ‘Hey, this can also be part of being Jewish,’ and that they’re not separate from each other, it builds those values.”
Scouting also provides ample opportunity for the kids to get outside. Troop 792 goes on monthly camp outs, no matter the weather. Baran said that has become especially valuable to the Scouts and their families during the pandemic.
“It lets the kids socialize and do something that feels normal in a time when nothing is normal,” she said. “I’ve heard so many of them say, ‘This is the most normal thing I’ve done in a long time.’”
The troop takes a lot of precautions to keep everyone safe and healthy. They wear masks when they’re outside, everyone has to sleep in their own tents, and they’ve changed the way they do food preparation so now the girls only prepare their own food, or the food is prepared by adults, to avoid contamination.
Change in plans
Although Baran helped start the troop with the intention of one day splitting off into a Jewish Scout troop, that has changed in the two years since the troop began.
“When Troop 792 was founded, we discussed that when/if we developed enough interest from Jewish girls we might split off and create a girls’ troop at Beth Shalom, but as of now there isn’t enough critical mass to separate, and, frankly, the girls are all having so much fun Scouting together that I don’t see a split coming any time soon,” Baran said.
Any decision to split up will be up to the parents of the troop (Baran is no longer one of them now that Nina is 18 and has aged out of Scouts, but she is still involved as the troop committee chair). The goal now is to have an active and involved troop.
“We’ve succeeded in our goal of creating an intentional Jewish community, just not in the way we expected,” Baran said.
Those who have a daughter or granddaughter who might be interested in becoming a member of Troop 792 can contact Baran at .
