“Train the wise and they will become wiser, teach the righteous and they will continue to learn.” (Proverbs 9:0)

“There is no teaching to compare with example.” (Baden-Powell)

“Scouting is a game for boys under the leadership of boys under the direction of a man.” (Baden-Powell)

“THE FIRST STEP towards success in training your boy is to know something about boys in general and then about this boy in particular.” (Baden-Powell)

"Today's leader must be one who is also inward looking, one who will be able to cultivate his inner life deeply, who will be able to specialize, who will be able to acquire real knowledge and, in the Jewish Scouts, a Jewish knowledge, that he has something deep within him. It is unthinkable from the Jewish point of view that the leader should be a perfect Scout leader while being, in other fields, a dilettante or an amateur. He must be mature, and then his influence will be effective." (André Neher)

Question of Vocabulary

Depending on the language, there are many ways to name a Scoutmaster. To facilitate understanding beyond our mother tongues, we propose to use the Hebrew word « Madrich / Madricha ».

• man: a Madrich – Madrichim (plural)
• woman: a Madricha – Madrichot (plural)

A Madrich accompanies and grows his scouts for several years; he is not a moderator of some activities.

In French, we use the word « animateur » which means to give life, breath, spirit, to give soul, a beautiful definition to characterize the mission of Madrichim.

 

אַחֲרָיוּת Acharayut, Responsibility in Hebrew

Teaching of Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur

Responsibility = Duty to respond 

אַחֲרָיוּת Acharayut

• First letter Alef: me, I 
• First two letters: Ach = my brother
• First three letters: Achar = other and otherness
• First four letters: Acharai = after me

Responsibility means: I, my brother, others, and what will occur after me.

 

Teaching of Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz

“Responsibility is one of the most important midot (midah, pl. midot, measure in hebrew) to cultivate in one’s soul. Acharayut (responsibility in Hebrew) comes from the root “acher” (other). 

To take responsibility means to cultivate the “ability” for response to an “other.” This responsibility to another is born in the moment where no one else is present to assist. 

As Hillel said (Avot 2:6) “uveemkom sh’ain anashim hishtadail lihiyot ish”: in a place where there aren’t people of moral courage taking responsibility, one needs to step up. The Rabbis learned this lesson from Moshe Rabbeinu himself (Shemot 2:12).

Rather than look to others to create our meaning, our opportunities, or our missions, we are charged to be proactive. 

Gandhi famously said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” G-d comes to love Avraham Avinu because he and his children are “Shomru Derech Hashem Laasot Tzedakah u’Mishpat, to keep the ways of Hashem, to do righteousness and justice” (Bereshit 18:18). Here we learn that the Jewish people are born in our becoming shomrim. 

Viktor Frankl, the great Jewish psychoanalyst, once said that “Being human means being conscious and being responsible. By becoming responsible agents for social change we actualize not only our humanity but also our mission as Jews. »

May we all meditate on the midah of responsibility and set up rituals to grow in our ability to grow as agents of responsibility.”

 

 
A Madrich, a Jewish Scoutmaster

THE MISSION OF A MADRICH IS TO DREAM AND GROW YOUNG PEOPLE.

Madrich Blue Shoulder Loop

• Accompany his scouts in their discoveries and learnings
• Be a pro outdoor games
• Find places and themes for outings and weekends that are out of the ordinary
• Being a pro of animation
• To make nature discover its scouts, and how to protect it

(non-exhaustive list)

 

KADIMA — The Jewish Scout Trail for Leaders
A A4 single two-sided page printed, then folded in four and stapled.

 

A SHEVET LEADER ASSUMES MORE RESPONSIBILITIES THAN A MADRICH.

Shevet Leader Purple Shoulder Loop

Responsibilities that he has undertaken to assume arise from a number of imperatives that he must face and bear in mind in order to give his action its full meaning and effectiveness.

In addition to being a good facilitator:

• He is an educator: he knows his goals and the means to reach them. He is responsible for his training.
• He is a « Shevet Leader », an example for his scouts and adapts his behavior to this character.
• It is in charge of the Shevet staff and its madrichim.
• He is an association manager: member of the scout movement, he is the interlocutor of the parents, the community, and knows his duties towards the movement.

 

Tsofim Yehudim, LeDor VaDor
Jewish Scouts, from generation to generation