12/26/2023 0 Comments Girly symbol instagram highlight icons![]() ![]() Of course, the heart of the Girl Scouts experience is doing activities with friends. A scout pledges to do her best “to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.” “A lot of values that the Girl Scouts of America have are very similar to Judaism,” Helfstein said, pointing to the Girl Scout Law. Just like the Girl Scouts respect tradition, they leave it open so that whatever religion you are, you can figure out how to express it within the troop.” “It’s so beautiful because the values are very universal, but also you can find your particular faith’s connection to it. This easy integration of Jewish elements aligns with the core principles of Girl Scouting: allowing girls to explore their faith within the organization’s framework. Within a matter of weeks they had 13 members, including three girls who are the third sisters in their family to join the troop.“The beautiful thing about this troop is that many of them would never have met otherwise - they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to,” Helfstein said. “We strong-armed Sarah into doing the troop again and she strong-armed us into helping out,” Helfstein said, explaining that Alevsky tapped her to recruit new members. When Helfstein learned that Chabad of the West Side had once housed a troop, she, with the help of two other local Jewish moms, hatched a plan to relaunch the group. “I wanted more buy-in if I was to restart it.”Įnter Upper West Sider Eve Helfstein, whose 10-year-old daughter, Bette, became fascinated with the idea of joining the Girl Scouts after watching the movie “Troop Beverly Hills.” With no troop available at Bette’s school, Helfstein decided to become certified as a troop leader. For Troop 3131 to work, she said, she needed some partners. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic dictated that all troops meet virtually for some time.Īlevsky decided that she wouldn’t restart the troop after pandemic restrictions were lifted because the parents had previously not been involved as much as she would have liked. The organization has added extensive STEM, leadership and business education programming - which Troop 3131 has eagerly taken part in. Over the course of the past 111 years, there have been many changes at the Girl Scouts. Over the years, many prominent Jews have been Girl Scouts, including Barbara Walters, Gwyneth Paltrow and Gloria Steinem. The Savannah, Georgia-based troop also included several Jewish girls. Three of them were Jewish: Leonora Amram, Mildred Guckenheimer and Henrietta Falk. Jewish involvement in scouting dates back to the very beginning of Girl Scouts of the United States of America, in 1912, when founder Juliette Gordon Low asked four friends to become troop leaders with her. This is a way for kids to get together Jewishly, and it’s really special.” “It really brings people in the Jewish community together, in a way - this is a space where they meet. ![]() “Our troop is really across the board,” founder Sarah Alevsky, who is also co-director of family programs at the Chabad of the West Side, told the New York Jewish Week. Some attend Jewish day schools, while others go to secular public and private schools. That’s because, when the troop was founded, most Girl Scout cookies weren’t kosher to the troop’s standards - an important consideration because, when it was established in 2010, Troop 3131 made history as the first-ever Chabad-sponsored Girl Scout troop.īased out of Chabad of the West Side and revived after a hiatus abetted by the COVID pandemic, the troop was originally designed for local Jewish girls from third through fifth grade who represent various levels of Jewish observance, from Reform to Modern Orthodox. Yes, its members wear uniforms, and participants participate in activities like making campfires and learning first aid.īut the girls of 3131 don’t sell those iconic cookies. ( New York Jewish Week) - When people think of Girl Scouts, they tend to think of green uniforms, groups of girls working toward merit badges and, of course, tempting Girl Scout cookies with names like Samoas and Do-si-dos.īut Manhattan’s Girl Scout Troop 3131 does things a bit differently. ![]()
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