Ezra Taft Benson and the State of Israel - Brandeis Institutional ...

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friendships with various Israeli leaders, citing them often and frequently mentioningpositive statements about the Church by prominent Jews and Israelis. One of hisfavorites was a comment made to him by David Ben Gurion, which Benson used toillustrate what he saw as a special relationship between Mormons and Jews, andparticularly Israelis: “There are no people in the world who understand the Jews like theMormons.”Because of the obvious influence that Benson's religious heritage had on hisviews, his relationship with Jews and the State of Israel can only be understood byplacing his views in that context. In order to do that, we must begin by looking backmore than 100 years, to the roots of his Latter-day Saint heritage and to the earlyAmerican Christian culture that influenced Mormon perspectives on Jews and Palestine.While various Christian sects have viewed the formation of a Jewish State in Palestine asa fulfillment of biblical prophecy, the Mormon relationship with Jews and Israel hasalways been a unique one. Truman G. Madsen, notable Church scholar, calls the Mormonattitude toward Zionism “singular and refreshing.” 1He characterizes that attitude in fouraspects: their declaration of “physical continuity with Israel”; their “benign attitudetoward Jewish dispersion” in contrast to the view, “often abetted by Christians, that it wassolely and irreversibly Divine retribution”; 2 the Mormon assurance of “the continuance ofIsrael up to the end of history”; and finally the Mormon perception of “reliving the life ofIsrael in their own lives.” 3Larry Lefkowitz of The Jerusalem Post concludes that “theattitude of the Mormons, as a religious sect, has been in strong contrast to the official123Truman G. Madsen, Mormon Attitudes toward Zionism, lectures at the University of Haifa, 1980-1981,11. Obtained in the archives of the Church History Library.Contrast noted by Truman G. Madsen, Mormon Attitudes toward Zionism, 11.D.W. Davies, “Israel, the Mormons and the Land,” Reflections on Mormonism, Truman G. Madsen, ed.(Salt Lake City: Publisher's Press, 1978), 82-93.4
viewpoint of most Christian denominations.” 4Indeed, Mormons generally feel a deepkinship for their “Jewish brothers,” a relationship that goes beyond mere tolerance oracceptance, to a collective concern for and even preoccupation with the well-being ofLord's covenant people.Early Teachings and Familial BondContemporary Mormon enthusiasm for the Jewish people is derived from theteachings of the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith,who has been called the “first religious Zionist.” 5 Armand L. Mauss contrasts Mormonperceptions of Jewish identity with those of other Christian religions. The “particularlyvicious and fatal forms of anti-Semitism in the history of Europe (and sometimes inAmerica, as well),” he writes, “have their genesis in a religious ideology that definesJews (at best) as apostate from the Abrahamic religion of the Bible or (at worst) asdiabolical enemies to the true Christian religion.” 6In contrast, “Mormons typicallyunderstood the waywardness attributed to Jews in biblical and Christian writings assimply a normal and re-current human tendency.” 7Jews and Christians were no differentin this sense. “If Jews and the rest of Israel had periodically been chastened for turningtheir backs on God,” Mauss explains, “so had the pre-Israelite biblical peoples in thetimes of Adam, Enoch, and Noah...[and] so had the Christian Gentiles themselves afterthe apostolic era.”4567Larry Lefkowitz, “Mormons' Kinship with the Jews,” The Jerusalem Post, 1975. (This article wasfound in the LDS Church History archives, but without complete publication information. I was unableto get into The Jerusalem Post archives previous to 1980, so I could not find the exact date ofpublication.)Quoted by Truman G. Madsen, Mormon Attitudes toward Zionism, 11.Armand L. Mauss, All Abraham's Children (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003), 159.Mauss, All Abraham's Children, 163.5
Page 2 and 3: AcknowledgementsI am indebted to Pr
Page 4 and 5: Table of ContentsIntroduction - 1Ch
Page 6 and 7: elationship in any depth.In researc
Page 10 and 11: Joseph Smith taught that Latter-day
Page 12 and 13: Gentiles, and it will be again inha
Page 14 and 15: for their long suffering. Yet, he,
Page 16 and 17: focus on both the fulfillment of pr
Page 18 and 19: Smith and Brigham Young, as previou
Page 20 and 21: Smith, the members of the group “
Page 22 and 23: Jews.'” 46Benjamin further descri
Page 24 and 25: Chapter 2: Benson's Religious Leade
Page 26 and 27: audiences. The first, called, “Je
Page 28 and 29: Benson's sense of kinship for the J
Page 30 and 31: eturn of the Jews to the land of Pa
Page 32 and 33: general mention of his efforts at s
Page 34 and 35: Or perhaps it did not aid in his ap
Page 36 and 37: about Jews and Israel, throughout t
Page 38 and 39: and Peter Grose describe the frustr
Page 40 and 41: Israel's victory in the Six Day War
Page 42 and 43: the Messiah. Indeed, both Benson an
Page 44 and 45: those visits, as opposed to those o
Page 46 and 47: U.S. agricultural products on credi
Page 48 and 49: The American public, though divided
Page 50 and 51: States.” 133Indeed, a Gallup poll
Page 52 and 53: with Britain and France, for their
Page 54 and 55: many Americans that Israel was now,
Page 56 and 57: those experiences to give validity
Page 58 and 59:
Benson, “I want you to pray to Go
Page 60 and 61:
gathering. Some of those themes inc
Page 62 and 63:
Ben Gurion and Levi Eshkol, both of
Page 64 and 65:
sending “two Mormon Books,” and
Page 66 and 67:
Yet Ben Gurion's next letter, dated
Page 68 and 69:
on this occasion with Shimon Peres
Page 70 and 71:
cultivate land for crops in the 194
Page 72 and 73:
attitude in the Synagogue Light art
Page 74 and 75:
United States, his views on Israel
Page 76 and 77:
eminded the host that he had not be
Page 78 and 79:
Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
Page 80 and 81:
"Though Thy servant is now far from
Page 82 and 83:
BibliographyAlteras, Isaac. Eisenho
Page 84 and 85:
Madsen, Truman G. “Mormon Attitud
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