Jewish Scouting celebrates 100th anniversary with museum exhibit

By David Malatzky, chair of NJCOS 100th Anniversary Committee

Mark Kaye spent decades collecting about 1,000 pieces of Jewish Scouting memorabilia. But he’s particularly proud of three, just a few of the 350 he loaned to an upcoming summer exhibit marking the 100^th anniversary of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting (NJCOS).

A tiny 1931 pamphlet in English and Yiddish that explained the value of Scouting to Jewish boys as part of a BSA recruitment program.
A printer’s block containing a plate used to print an Aleph Award Emblem card, an official religious emblem program for Jewish Cub Scouts and Webelos Scouts, grades 3–5.
A rare patch that reads, “I rode with Rabbi Dobin at Philmont.” Joel Dobin, who passed away in 2012, was a prominent Jewish leader who served as the summer chaplain for three seasons at Philmont Scout Ranch. He started handing out the patches in 1966. Kaye, a longtime Scouter and member of the Great Smoky Mountain Council executive board, wanted to add this patch to his collection. But at $800, he needed his wife’s approval. Kaye says it was the most he had ever spent on a piece.

These items and hundreds more will be on display this summer at the Ten Mile River Scout Museum in Narrowsburg, New York, about a two-hour drive upstate from New York City. The exhibit features NJCOS, Philmont and National Jamboree items, Shabbat patches, Jewish awards and emblems, and more.

Kaye’s donations fill five showcases.

After starting his collection of Scouting memorabilia around 1975, he started focusing on Jewish Scouting memorabilia in 2000. He says it brought together two things important to him: Scouting and his Jewish faith.

“I would like visitors to see the long history of the Jewish faith and Scouting and how they complement each other,” Kaye says.

Kaye’s exhibit was a highlight of the NJCOS Northeast Region conference last March at the Ten Mile River Scout Camps. One of its visitors was Ricky Mason, who took over as Scouting America’s executive board chair in May. It’s not lost on the NJCOS that their 100^th anniversary falls during a year Scouting America has a Jewish board chair.

“We are proud to have Ricky Mason, our friend and Jewish Eagle Scout, lead Scouting America as its new national chair,” says Philip Sternberg, NJCOS president. “We wish him the best and will work to support him in the Jewish community.”

The Ten Mile River Scout Museum has extensive exhibits on the local camps, wildlife, geology and archaeology, including Native American arrowheads and artifacts. It also has a large Scouting memorabilia store. The museum will be open from the first week of July to the third week of August.