18-state Jewish contingent arrives after quick shake-down

By Mayer Resnick

First Class Scout Ari Shatz, 15, center, from Brookline, Mass., leads morning Jewish serices Tuesday in the Shomer Shabbat synagogue tent. Left is Life Scout Jeremy Blass, 17, from Floral Park, N.Y., and right is Life Scout Mark Schiffman, 14, from Brooklyn, N.Y. (Photo by Mickey Welsh)

Jamboree troops start meeting about a year before coming to Ft. A.P. Hill, right? Not the 105 Scouts and 15 Scouters making up the three Jamboree troops of the Shomer Shabbat (Sabbath Observant) contingent, sponsored by Old Colony Council, Mass.

Members of Troops 510, 511 and 512 met for the first time a week ago Sunday at Camp Kunatah, part of Greater New York Council's Ten Mile River Scout Reservation, in Narrowsburg, N.Y.

So what brought these 120 Jews from 18 states and 33 councils together? Basically, three aspects of Orthodox Jewish practice brought them together, according to Jodi Sohl, Scoutmaster of Troop 613, Silver Spring, Md., and Jamboree Troop 512. "The need for kosher food, availability of prayer three times a day, and proper arrangements for the Sabbath," she said.

According to Star Scout Mordechai Sapper, 13, a member of Sohl's hometown and jamboree troop, "I probably wouldn't be able to come to the jamboree without this (kind of arrangement). But my patrol is working great together. We did the whole COPE (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience) course in two days!" Mordechai exclaimed.

Prayer is accommodated in the large blue-and-white synagogue tent at the contingent's site at the corner of Lee Dr. and Travis Lake Rd.

Sabbath arrangements are relatively simple with such a large group, partly because many of the leaders worked together at the last jamboree and at summer camp. Kosher food for the 120 is part of a larger kosher food service that feeds about 250 people throughout the jamboree, mostly Jews, but also about a dozen Moslems, who share similar dietary rules.

Michael Poretsky, Scoutmaster of Troop 611, Brooklyn, N.Y., heads the kosher food operation. Poretsky also is involved at Camp Kunatah, where for the first three weeks every summer the dining hall is strictly kosher, which is why the contingent started its shake-down there.

After four days at Kunatah the group worked its way down from New York City, touring Philadelphia and stopping at Ft. McHenry, arriving just before the Jewish Sabbath Friday evening in Silver Spring, Md.

Life Scout Asher Litwin, 17, from Long Beach, Calif., is a patrol leader in jamboree Troop 510. "Work-ing with new people in a patrol is really different. But I've developed a level of confidence, and they're a good group - half from California and half from Pennsylvania," he said. "And I had never been in Pennsylvania until last Thursday!"

Sunday the contingent celebrated the Eagle Court of Honor for Micah Zimmerman of Troop 613, Silver Spring. Many friends , including the Scoutmaster from his original troop - Troop 613 from California - are also part of the contingent.

Along with tens of thousands of Scouts on their way to Ft. A.P. Hill, the group spent Sunday on the Washington, D.C. Mall, including a moonlit tour of the monuments at night.

Like any Scouting family, they invite jamboree Scouts or Scouters to join them for prayer, either weekday or Sabbath. At the 1997 National Scout Jamboree when there were two troops, one boy came for a service and ended up celebrating his Bar Mitzvah.

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