A lot in two days

Israel Scouts performing for the New Orleans JCC Day Camps

A lot of things have happened in the last two days. Locally, the Israeli Scouts (Tzofim) have come down to the uptown Jewish Community Center for a stellar performance in front of several hundred Day Camp kids. It was an amazing thing to see the Caravan Golan in performance and to see how the children reacted to the ten singing and dancing 17 year-olds. Along with 20 others in two other caravans, they had been selected from among 1400 hopefuls. After practicing for five months of weekends in their native Israel, they began a tour a few weeks ago that will take them from the East Coast through the South and Southwest and on to the West Coast. The five boys and five girls will begin their years of military service to the country following their return to Israel at summer's end. The caravan is led by two 25-year-old veterans of the Tzofim, one man and one woman and I was pleased to meet with them briefly after the show and let them know how great they were. Many of the songs were sung in Hebrew, but it didn't matter. The youngsters in the audience were having a hard time keeping still and not dancing and gyrating to the music with the very friendly and energetic troupe of Israelis.

Later on Tuesday night, the Florence Melton Mini-School, an adult Jewish education course graduated its latest class in ceremonies at the Metairie J.C.C. It was especially interesting for me to see this class graduate because the ceremonies mark the mid-point for me as a first-year student and give me some insight into what my graduation will be like next year. All of the students spoke glowingly of the rabbi instructors, two of whom are now leaving for other posts or pulpits with spouses.

On the national front: Cyd Cherise, the dancing partner of Fred Astaire and others passed away from heart failure at the age of 87 in Hollywood and Tim Russert was eulogized and later buried in private services in Washington, D.C. Life goes on, but not with the same sweetness as it had when they were still among us.

The Tzofim Are Coming!

In the United States there are two Scouting organizations recognized by the World Organization of the Scouting Movement (WOSM), the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the USA. In Israel there are six associations that are part of its Scouting organization. Most Scouting organizations have boys and girls within their ranks. Israel is no exception here. As a matter of fact, segregation by sex as in the United States is quite rare. In Israel the Hebrew word for "scouts" is tzofim. Among the six Scouting associations, the Hebrew Scouts Association is by far and away the largest at 60,000. The Arab School Scouts Association has some 13,000 members, while the last four groups of Arab and Druze Scouts number a few thousand each. Each year three or four caravans of Israeli (Hebrew) Scouts travel to the United States and entertain crowds in key cities. A very intense competition is held to determine the forty Tzofim who possess the best voices, the most energy and best smiles to act as ambassadors to israel. Several dozen other Tzofim who are lucky get to travel to the U.S. to be located at a number of summer sleep away campus run by various organizations, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) being the chief sponsor. Also, the Friends of the Israel Scouts help raise money to finance the caravans that criss-cross the country performing songs and dancing their way into the hearts of attendees. In some cities the Tzofim perform private concerts for summer day camps, which is great for the kids, but doesn't allow for outsiders to see the show. Last year the Tzofim performed at the uptown J.C.C. for the first time in over a crowd in front of a crowd of over 200. This year, however, the J.C.C.'s summer camp is sponsoring the caravan and they are holding a private show just for day camp attendees. But I will be there and I will get pictures (I hope) of their performance. I am excited...can you tell? These young men and ladies are an inspiration and they beam with confidence about the future of the state of Israel. They are Israel's greatest secret weapon. Interestingly, most of them will enter military service and fulfill a commitment of two or three years right after the summer. So, this free trip from Israel to the U.S. is a great opportunity for them, but an even better opportunity for those of us lucky enough to be in the audience.