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Show The Salt LakeTribune RELIGION A Beaconof Light COMICS, C-4 IV LISTINGS, C-5 My SATURDAY @ ANN LANDERS, C-5 ° JANUARY22, 2000 The Salvation Army expected the worst arriving tn Utah \-° (#2 1887. Lt didnt happen. Jewish Expo 2000 takesvisitors on a two-hour narrated tour of Jewish history and culture via an 8,000square-foot maze of animated exhibits, including King Soloman's temple, pictured above. BYBOB MIMS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE @ With the cry “Utah for Jesus” on their lips, Ad- jutant W.F. Cozensand his Salvation Armytroop of sevensetoff by train from Oakland, Calif., for Salt Jewish Children’s Traveling Museum Not Just for Children, Not Just for Jews Lake City May24, 1887. It was a grimly determined bunch, fully expecting the worst in the heart of Mormonism. Instead, they found a polite if restrained welcome from members of predominant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In May 1893, LDS Church President Wilford Woodruff even opened the Mormon Tabernacle on Temple Squarefor Salvation Army meetings that attracted 10,000. , r Nearly 113 years later, the Salvation Army in Salt Lake City has a $3.5 million annual budget and BY BOB MIMS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 60 full-time staffers to serve tens of thousands of , clients.Its array of social services range from drug andalcohol rehabilitation, emergency assistance to the poor and thrift stores to a community dining room thatfeeds 400-700 people nightly. Whatdo youget when you mix state-of-the-art miiltimedia exhibits, robots, moving dioramas and other special effects with 2,000 years of biblical and Judaic history? Answer: Jewish Expo 2000. The early welcome by Mormons washardly what Cozens had expected‘in Utah. Writing about two weeksafter his arrival, he had declared that, “The However, whatis billed as “the world’s largest and Mormons areconsideredby all nationalities to be most extensive Jewish Children’s traveling museum”is worse than heathen. . . but we Salvationists love notjust for youngsters, says Rabbi Benny Zippelof Salt LakeCity’s Orthodox Bais Menachem synagogue. all alike. Glory to God!” Cozens’ bandheldits first Salt Lake City meeting in tried and true Salvation Army style. Forming a line about 7 p.m. on June 17, 1887, they marched The exposition’s Feb. 2-6 stop at Salt Lake City’s Utah State Fairpark, 900 W. North Temple, will be “an opportunity to bring the Jewish community togetherfor a fun andfascinating educational experience — an ex} downtown to a fanfare of cornets, timbrels and shoutsof “Hallelujah.” rience where youngandold alike can learn abouttheir wondrousheritage,”the rabbisaid. Hundredsofonlookersfell in behind them, and ultimately a crowd estimated at 5,000 heard the gospel, albeit with mixed results. “The Mormons,as a people,listen attentively so For nearly a decadeonthe road, the high-tech exhi- bition has made nearly 100 stops and been witnessed by 300,000 visitors worldwide, but never before in Utah. far to us, both onthestreet andin our barracks, but Then in October, Zippel learned the expo — underthe umbrella of Bais Menachem’s parent Chabad Lubavitch movement — was comingout West. TheSalvation Army emphasized patriotism on the coverof this WWI-era magazine See SALVATION,Page C-2 while downplayingitsreligiousidentity. To bring the showto Salt Lake City during its current circuit through California, Phoenix and Vancouver, will cost $25,000. To 21st Century Providers of Social Services gain, said Zippel, They used streettheater to win Red-Hot and Righteous:The Urban converts for Christ among the Religion of The Salvation Army. “They are very religious people,” she said in a phoneinterview. “When you meetthem, their religious faith is very much in tors on a two-hour narrated tour of Jewish history and culture via an 8,000square-foot maze of animated exhibits. Visitors trace their vided artistic fodder for numer- raiser for most of the 1990s — “seemsto involvesacrificing part of a strong religious identity,” 2, and Feb. 4. Discounts will be available for large groups. Tickets are $5 in advanceor$7at the door. For further information, call 801-467-7777. Six Days of Creation and Jewish captivity in Egypt to Moses’ parting of the Sea, the miraculousfelling of the walls of Jericho and construction of the first temple in Jerusalem by King Solomon. Other exhibits focus on the Ten Commandments, biblical heroes such as Abraham,Isaac and Jacob, and the Holocaust. Thelatter includes a re-enactmentof a secret Passover Seder conducted in the World War II Nazi death camp of Auschwitz. Winstonsaid. Yet the church’s overall strat- egy has never changed, said Win- In additionto reliving history both heroic and-sad, visitors also may explore hands-on arts, sample Jewish holiday music and and participateiina live game shiw, at New York University. tors’ knowledgeof the scriptures. ston, a researchfellow at the Center for Media, Culture and History 1879, to “getting saved and keeping saved and then getting somebody else saved,” Now, at the beginning of the 2ist century, the Army is known as a social services organization, with its signature Christmas bell-ringers andthrift stores, not The expo will be opened to the general public beginning 6:30 p.m., Feb. 3; Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m.; and Feb.6, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Group and schoolvisits will be arranged for Feb. ble’s accounts of the Butto raise money in the public arena — the Armyhasbeen the nation’s largest charitable fund- ous films of the early to mid-20th century andits influence wasfelt in many American and British @ Expo in S.L. steps from the Bi- evidence.” cities, But for all its theatrics, this was a church dedicated, as founder William Booth wrote in | The five-day showing takes visi- pitals and medicalfacilities, “Part of the problem for The Salvation Army todayis its identity,” says Diane Winston, author of a recently-published history, compared with the genteel Protestants of the late 1890s and early 1900s. The Salvation Army was amongthefirst to allow women equal leadership roles. It pro- “Itis wonderful to work here,” said Maj. Wayne Froderberg, who private donations andticketsales. services for senior citizens, hos- downtrodden, and their tactics were considered almost brazen directs the Salvation Army in Salt Lake City. “There's a sense of who hopesto recoup forits call to salvation or worship style. Its programsinclude disaster relief, daycare centers, summer camps, holiday assistance, diers of The Salvation Army, crisply uniformed and ever ready to strike up the band, were as regular a fixture on the urban landscape as gamblers and showgirls. shared ministry with our Mormonfriends,and| find as | work with them andotherpastors,thereis a real passion to cometogetherin the love of God and help people.” Still, that is a barthe expo’s cost from BY PEGGY FLETCHER STACK THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. There was a time whensol- {AlHartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune British Columbia, From 19th Century Stréet-Savvy Soul-Savers modeled after television’s “Concentration”to test visi- “Salvationists continue to use the vernacular culture in evangelical crusades, evenif their im- Zippel emphasized that just as the program isnot only for Jewishchildren, it also should appeal to adults of other faiths. For example, mailings inviting LDS Church bishopsand their wards to attend the expo are planned, the rabbisaid. age as street-savvy soul-savers has been eclipsed by their “The beauty of this programis that it appealsto all people, irrespective of religion, age, backgroundor affiliation,” Zippelsaid. See THE ARMY,Page C-2 Despite Flushing My Pet Turtle, Maybe Elder Adolph Was the Best Companion I Ever Had missioncall last week. Because Bammer. Correct answer: “Another missionary. didn’t go on a mission — beingat the timedeepin jail — he sent Buddy to me for reasons that may boil down to nothing more than seeing whatit takes % Beeie Bammer'’s youngest son got his LDS for missionary advice. Thisis not as bad ofan ideaasit sounds. I enjoyed 68 percent of my mission to South America. I hated (worse than broccoli) 13 percentofit. Thanks to assorted fevers andinjuries, I don't rememberthe other19 percent. First, I showed Buddy some pictures of missionlife, including the uncensored & Fmd ones of Elder Mutzin the showerafter theleeches got him. These made Buddy oe nervous enough to ponder aloud the con- venience of becoming an atheist. ae Ss ne oe leader whose ideaofserving his fellow man consisted entirely of refining obedi- Being stuck on the otherside of the Earth from people whocare about you isn’t so bad if your companionis cool. Butit’s downrighthorribleif his frontal lobes belong inside a Bell jar at some majJor-university. sion. Wasit the horrible living condi- would havea direct bearing on how we turned outlaterin life. Wait, he may have beenright. enceto the pointof serious neurosis.It took four minutesforus to hate each other's guts, ¥ ¢ donein the missionoffice, where,if According to my mission president, how wegot along with our companions tions? Persecution by locals? Mindless rules? Cholera? Animal bites? ThenI got Elder Adolf, a district Unfortunately, missionaries don't get to pick their companions. This part gets things go horribly wrong later, they can claim thatthe Spirit made themto doit, mouth open and spoke Spanish with such anatrocious Utah accent that he mightas well have been speaking Romanian. to drive a 19-year-old kid insane, an LDS missionary can neverbe alone. He has to have a companion. Staad, Buddy eked what I hatedmost about my mis- ROBERT KIRBY © 2000, The Salt Lake Tribune Anyway,I told Buddy aboutthe eight weeks, four days, 13 hours and 23 minutes I spent in Nalgas de Vaca with Elder Adolf. If he ett! sor-amigsion now, T'll bet he takes a gun, Most of the companions I served with were normal,if not actually fun to be around. Until I got Elder Adolf, the worst was Elder Leeper, who chewed with his { ' ‘ Abas + Him: “I believe in getting up 30 minutes earlier that the handbooksays.” Me: “AndI believe that you're an idi- ot.” ~ Adolf also demanded that we knock on doors an extra hour every night. But since the rules required that compan: ions remain together, and hy enough to make me remain with himaf ter 11 p.m., we didn't. Because missionariesaren't allowed pets, Adolf flushed my turtle Eleventh Nephi downthe toilet. After which, most of his booksandclothesaccidentally fell downour well. Eventually, wesettled into an uneasy peace. Adolf prayed for me, and I prayed that he would leave mealone.I think this is all God expected of us, because, shortly before we hurt eachother, the Spirit told the mission presidentto split us up. Today, Adolf has 10 kids and is a tax attorneyfor the federal government. I'ma professional troublemaker. If what the missionoe said ~ wastrue, maybe Adolf and I had moreinfluence on each other than we really** know. Maybe we were the best et: ions each other ever had. Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby lives in Springville. These. described ‘Mormon™: at P.O. Box 684 e-mail at dark@airswit hy oan. |
