To earn a pioneering merit badge, a scout must be able to tie a square knot. A Ner Tamid scouting emblem requires a different set of skills—like explaining the significance of a tallis, a kippah and the contents of the tefillin.
Those are just a few of the tasks Nate Daniels fulfilled on his way to earning the bronze eternal light-shaped emblem. Nate received it at Scout Shabbat on Friday, Feb. 7 at Temple Emanuel. He had some familiar scouting companions on hand. Nate’s brothers Liam and Own also received emblems.
The first Jewish troop scout was formed in 1913 at the 92nd Street YM-WHA in New York City. Last Friday’s Scout Shabbat was preceded by one day the 115th birthday of scouting. The organization also officially adopted a new name, Scouting America.
Scout Shabbat was organized by the Jewish Committee on Scouting of the Greater St. Louis Area Scouting. Scouting is all in the family for the Daniels family. Meredith Daniels is the committee chair of Pack 805. Her husband Kevin is the scout’s liaison with vendors for the annual popcorn sale. His title is popcorn colonel.
The Daniels brothers now have a combined seven scouting emblems. Liam, 8, who previously earned the Aryeh emblem, received the Maccabee emblem at Scout Shabbat. Owen, 10, who already had the Maccabee emblem, received the Aleph. Nate, 12, added the Ner Tamid to his previous Maccabee and Aleph emblems.
The Ner Tamid emblem requires an understanding of Jewish customs, kashrut, the history U.S. and world Jewry and completion of three or more service projects for the scout’s synagogue. One of Nate Daniels’ service projects is doubling as a mitzvah project for his bar mitzvah in May at United Hebrew Congregation. Stacked in the Daniels’ living room are 200 cans of soup.
“I’m doing a soup drive for the Parkway Food Pantry,” Nate said, adding that anyone support his efforts can drop off soup cans at UH through Feb. 16.
Each emblem is validation that the scout has learned key facts about Judaism. The Jewish Light gave the brothers a pop quiz to verify their command of Jewish values and practices, which they easily passed. When asked ‘Why do we observe the sabbath?’ Liam Daniels, 8, responded: “We rest because that’s what G-d did on the seventh day.” Owen Daniels, 10, correctly named the five books of the Torah and Nate Daniels explained why we celebrate Purim.
Owen Daniels said earning the Aleph emblem was a learning experience that gave him a feeling of accomplishment. He also gained awareness of a nuance of Judaism.
“There’s definitely a lot more holidays than I thought there were,” he said.
