Some 60 years after joining Boy Scouts, Ricky Mason is its first Jewish board chair in half a century

(JNS) - Ricky Mason remembers his first introduction to what was then known as the Boy Scouts.

His mother told him when he was 7 years old that he would join scouting four years later and become an Eagle Scout.

"My mother told me I was gonna do it, and so that was sort of enough for me," Mason told JNS.

He's embarking on another scouting adventure 60 years later. Next month, Mason will become chair of Scouting America's national executive board, the first Jew to hold the volunteer post in around 50 years.

Mason, 66, will become part of the triumvirate that runs the iconic organization, alongsi...