Rabbis take tour of Church sites in Utah
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The LDS Humanitarian Center and the Draper Utah Temple were among the stops on the itinerary of a group of five Jewish rabbis from the Los Angeles area during a Utah tour March 4-5. Their trip was organized by the Church's Southern California Public Affairs Council working with Church public affairs in Salt Lake City.
One of the California public affairs representatives, Mark Paredes, said the rabbis spent time at BYU and touring the temple in Draper on the first day of their tour. Included on their schedule the second day were Welfare Square, the LDS Humanitarian Center and Temple Square.
Each of them shared some of their impressions with the Church News as they toured Temple Square.
Rabbi John Borak who works in Los Angeles said, "What I will take back is a new understanding and a new appreciation of how much Jews and Mormons have in common in terms of how we try to live our lives in this world." That includes, he continued, making this world "a better place for all people during this lifetime and trust in the work of God for the world that will come next."
Rabbi Jeff Marx from the Santa Monica area said he has long been involved in Jewish genealogy, so the highlight of the visit for him was touring the Family History Center. "My greatest frustration was I wanted to spend days there and I only got a few minutes. It tortured me," he said with a smile. He was impressed with efforts to digitize the records that are on microfilm. "I'm really looking forward to seeing it all on computer."
Rabbi Richard Spiegel from the Thousand Oaks area said, "Everything we've seen has been fascinating" and called the Draper temple "something beautiful to behold."
But most impressive for him, he said, was seeing the Church humanitarian service that goes on. "It is so well organized, so much work that's going on to help people in need. And not only in this community, not only for those who are Mormons, but for people all over the world." He added, "I was really impressed by the seriousness and the devotion and the commitment I see the LDS people living by."
Rabbi Elijah Schochet, who teaches at a rabbinical school in Los Angeles, said he noticed "an extraordinary kinship that is felt with the Mormons. Perhaps because of shared history, perhaps because of a history of persecution." He spoke highly of the humanitarian work he saw, saying, "There is every evidence of careful foresight given. I was very impressed with the functioning as well as with the religious feeling and desire to do the right things."
Rabbi Isaac Jeret from the Rancho Palos Verdes area spoke of "a unique kind of volunteerism" he observed in seeing the Church's humanitarian efforts.
He noted, "Volunteerism in the Mormon Church is about obligation rather than about choice. The choice is to become a member of the Church. But once one is, there's a sense of covenanted responsibility." He said that is something that should be shared by all in the Jewish community as well as in Christianity, but has been hampered by making everything a matter of personal choice.
He continued, "One of the things we've lost is the sense that to volunteer is actually something that is an obligation, and to work — to do — is an obligation. It's really inspiring to see a community that has retained that core religious value."
