Be Prepared: Lessons from Purim and the Boy Scouts

The Boy Scout movement was founded in England in 1907 by Lord Baden-Powell, a British general and Boer War hero. Its purpose is to contribute to the full physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual development of young people and to prepare them to be responsible citizens in their communities.

Scouting was established in Canada in 1914, and in Israel in 1919. Because of the importance scouting placed on religion and its insistence that it was a non-denominational movement, Jewish religious and community organizations in Canada formed their own scout troops. Around 1918 one was formed in Ottawa; in 1921, the 59th Troop was formed in Toronto; by the late 1920s there were six in Montreal, and in 1930, B’nai Brith organized the first troop in Vancouver.

In 1922, Camp Tamarack was established by the 59th Troop as a Jewish Boy Scout camp in Ontario. Its first site was on Buckhorn Lake, it moved to Lake Couchiching in 1934 and finally acquired a 350-acre site on Duck Lake near Bracebridge in 1939. It operated as a boys’ camp until 1972.

The Camp Tamarack of today is located on the same lake but is not connected to the boy scout camp. Kayla’s Children’s Centre recently purchased the site and will open a camp for children with special needs in 2026.

This embroidered patch recognizes my participation in the Purim festival at Camp Tamarack in 1969.

Photo of Boy Scout Patch from the 1969 Purim Festival held at Camp Tamarack in Ontario. From the collection of, and photograph by, David Matlow.

I don’t recall anything about it (I was eight) other than it was some kind of Jewish scouting jamboree.

59th Boy Scout Troop, Toronto, Canada (1968). David Matlow is third from left, and Barry Simon is first from the right. Photograph by Esther Matlow, used with permission.

If any reader was there and recalls what it was about, please add it in the comments below.

In the interim, I can only speculate on the connection between the scouting movement and Purim which begins Thursday night, March 13 and celebrates delivery from evil Haman’s plot to kill the Jews.

The motto of the scouting movement is Be Prepared (chosen by Baden-Powell as the first letter of each word are his initials).  Purim teaches us that the Jewish people must always be prepared, because we risk being destroyed. Whether that means having a Jewish queen in place to save her people, as was the case in Shushan, or something more practical like being organized, thoughtful and strategic, we must be like the scouts and always Be Prepared.

Happy Purim.

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This article first appeared in the Canadian Jewish News (www.thecjn.ca) as part of the weekly Treasure Trove.  Past Treasure Troves can be found on facebook at #cjntreasuretrove.