Adult religious awards
Don Tolin (dont@TRIB.COM)
Sat, 6 Jan 1996 16:54:59 -0700
In an earlier discussion of religious awards, I said that I encourage all
adults to "earn" their adult religious award. I was wrong in my use of the
word "earned," in the same context as with a scout "earning" the youth
religious awards. Poor choice of words on my part. Sorry for any confusion.
However, I meant that adults should be encouraged to do things, such as
helping youth earn their religious awards, giving service to scouting, their
community, and their religious institutions, which ultimately leads them to
be nominated and awarded the adult religious emblem of their faith.
As I understand for most of the adult religious awards, as is true with the
Shofar Award, you are nominated and then chosen for the award if you meet
the established criteria or guidelines as set out by the religious body's
relationship committee or whoever is responsible for these awards in the
particular religion.
I am only personally familiar with the Shofar Award, but understand that
other adult religious awards are similiar. The nomination process required a
statement of what the individual had done in several areas, including
service to community, congregation, scouting, etc.
In my particular case, I did not "earn" the Religious Award in the same
manner that a youth has to fulfill certain requirements, and "earn his
religious emblem/award." I only "earned" the award in the sense that I
"satisfied" the selection guidelines by "doing" the required items inorder
to being nominated.
FYI, this is what the nomination of this particular adult religious award is
based upon.
Guidelines for Selection of Nominee (Shofar Award)
A Shofar recipient should:
1.Promote the use of Scouting in synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, and
other Jewish institutions.
2.Encourage Jewish youth to join the Boy Scouts of America as Tiger Cubs,
Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, and Explorers.
3.Recruit Jewish leaders on unit, district, and council levels.
4.Encourage and assist Scouts in earning the Maccabee, Aleph, Ner Tamid,
and Etz Chaim emblems.
5.Promote religious observance on camping trips and at camporees, summer
camp, Scout Sabbath, and other functions.
6.Exemplify religious convictions by personal participation in all aspects
of Jewish life.
I was nominated for the award, and apparently our District Executive and the
Scout Executive signed the application that was then sent in to PRAY, in my
particular case. It is my understanding that similiar "guidelines" are used
by other relgious groups to select receipients worthy of their award.
I apologize if my language was misleading, but nevertheless, the intent was
the same. As an adult, DO THE THINGS in your every day life to live by the
12th point of the scout law, and those things that would cause someone to
nominate you for the adult religious award of your faith. It is not the
award or emblem or square knot, that is the most important, IT IS WHAT YOU
DID IN ORDER TO RECEIVE IT.
Michael Bowman's post today was correct regarding this subject. This above
message is part of a reply I sent immediately yesterday to an individual who
also appropriately noticed my use of the word "earned" in my prior post and
questioned me on it. He too was correct, and I appreciate his observation,
and for giving me the opportunity to explain and clarify my language. I hope
I have done that here.
YiS/don
Don Tolin, Casper, Wyoming, USA
CR/MC-Pack 30~ASM-Troop 60~EA-Post 2000~Roundtable Commissioner
E-mail: dont@trib.com WWW URL: http://w3.trib.com/~dont/
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