Hi George.

Regarding Reform Congregations and the Boy Scouts, I have a couple of thoughts. As a member of a Reform Congregation here in Jackson, MS, this is particularly interesting.

It was only in the 1960s when Jews were not permitted in many Mississippi Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troops. This was not because the national Boy/Girl Scouts sanctioned this, but because local Troops made it their own policy. In Mississippi, many Jews were forced to start their own local Troops so that their children could participate in Boy/Girl Scouts. (For a discussion of Jews in the south during the Civil Rights Era, I would recommend Jack Nelson's "Terror in the Night: The Klan's Campaign Against the Jews." Jack Nelson is the LA Times' Washington Correspondent and, I believe, a recent commentator on the election at a forum sponsored by UVA's Miller Center. Nelson is also a Mississippi native.)

The Reform movement of Judaism has a long tradition of promoting tolerance in this area. Reform Congregations also refuse to discriminate in the congregation on the basis of sexual orientation. I think it would be hypocritical to sanction (through the use of facilities) an organization that went against the accepted principles of the Reform movement. I will support the Reform movement's stance on this issue.

Finally, if my Rabbi speaks out about this issue at Shabbat services tonight, I will let you know what he says. Interestingly, our Rabbi is only
three Rabbi's removed from the 1960s when the then Rabbi of our congregation, Perry Nussbaum, had his house bombed (the Temple was bombed too) by the Klan for speaking out against segregation (and for being Jewish).

I'll let you know what he says.

This is just a short note to supplement my comments yesterday. Our Rabbi did not discuss the Boy Scout issue last night at services, but I did talk briefly with the congregation president afterwards.

His feeling was that since there had not been a Boy Scout Troop associated with the Temple for about twenty years, the issue would not be brought up at this point. If someone in the congregation wanted to use the Temple facilities for Boy Scouts in the future, the leadership of the congregation would have to get together and discuss it.

He did point out that he understood that the national Reform movement typically made recommendations that individual congregations did or did not have to follow (though he was more than inclined to follow this one).

As I mentioned in my email yesterday, Jewish parents in Jackson typically had to start their own Boy Scout/Girl Scout troops because their children were not allowed in the existing troops. Our congregation president went on to say that most Troops associated with churches will now allow Jewish children to join their organizations. He did say that there were still likely be troops associated with some churches that would not allow Jews to join.

That's all from Jackson.

Matt Dalbey (electronic mail, January 12th and 13th, 2001)