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Show Mormon Students Explore Links With Israel in Overseas Study Three Brigham Young University students Elizabeth Zobell, Todd, Packard and Ken Flamm are returning home after spending an unusual half-year abroad in Jerusalem, Israel. After six months together with 90 fellow students studying Bible, theology, history and political science at the Brigham Young University Center here, their individual reactions to the small Jewish State were of wonder and surprise. Elizabeth Zobell, a sociology major, and Todd Packard, a pre-med student, didn't expect to find a modern country with such a wide range of Jewish people. They blamed their lack of preparation on Old Testament images. "We had always seen pictures of the Old City or pastoral scenes in the Galilee," Elizabeth explained. "I didn't expect to see cars on the roads," said Todd, recalling his impressions of the Holy land upon his arrival last winter. For Ken Flamm, the surprise was finding that not everyone here is religious. "I was taken aback by the number of Israelis who do not live the religious life," he said. He learned, however, that traditions express Jewish identity for most Israelis. The Brigham Young University Center currently situated in the picturesque setting of Jerusalem's Ramat Rachel kibbutz (communal village) was established some 12 years ago in response to the growing desire of the Mormon Church to have a more active presence in the land of Israel. Besides introducing the students to modern Israel, the program makes them aware of connections between, the Bible, their own Mormon beliefs, the presnt-day realities of the Jewish people, and the Holy Land. "Apart from Yearning about Judaism from our Jewish teachers, we also were invited to share the experience of the Sabbath and festivals in Jewish homes," recounted Elizabeth. "Through these experiences I came to appreciate the ways the Jews celebrate their holy days. They do so with a joy I found ' infectious. Participation in Jewish life allowed the students to compare and contrast their own way of life with that of the Jews. "Both Jews and Mormons," commented Ken Flamm, "are very family-oriented. We both set aside the Sabbath as a special day just to be with the family. While we were here the Jewish Sabbath became our own day of rest. It was strange to shift the Sabbath from Sunday to Saturday, but after a while, it seemed only natural." Since, for Mormons, even politics have a religious dimension, the course includes an analysis of present-day political trends in the Middle East. Whereas I certainly understand Israel more now," said Elizabeth, "I also have a better understanding of the Arab case. Our classes are given by both Arabs and Jews, so we get a balanced view of the situation." This impartiality was very much the intention of the current coordinator of the program, Mr. David Galbraith, who is, coincidentally, completing his Ph.D. thesis at Hebrew University in the field of international relations, on the apt topic of cease-fire. Kelly Ogden, administrative assistant at the center, explained the participation of both Arab and Jewish teachers alongside Mormon teachers: "We don't want to give a onesided picture of the situation. We don't believe that 'God is against the Arabs' but rather that they, like the Jews, are children of Abraham and also have a rightful place in the land. That is why our students meet with both Arab and Jewish personalities." The program organizers here explained that the Mormons lay special claim to a relationship with Israel and the Jewish people. Among other tenets of their faith, Mormons believe themselves to be descendants of the Biblical Joseph through his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Members of these tribes, they believe, left Israel just prior to the Babylonian conquest around 600 BC and fled to the Americas. The civilizations they established flourished for a millennium and, the Mormons contend, were visited by Jesus after the crucifixion. Although they accepted Jesus' testament, say the Mormons, they eventually fell away from it and were destroyed. Their spiritual inheritance was lost until 1820, when another Joseph, Joseph Smith, had a vision about the restoration of the church of Jesus, which marked the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. One of the most intriguing of these prophecies was made by an early apostle of the church, Orson Hyde. On a visit to the Holy Land in 1841, he pronounced a blessing from the Mount of Olives, prophesying the return of the Jews from their exile. Without the fulfillment of this propehcy, claim the Mormons, there could have been no modern Israel. The return of the Jews to Israel is further proof that the world is on its way to the Final Redemption, Mormons believe, evidence which is reinforced they say, by the appearance of Elijah in the Mormon Temple in Ohio in 1836. Said Todd Packard: "The ingathering of the Jews is a sign of the Divine Plan being worked out. Perhaps in Israel itself it will take some time before swords are beaten into ploughshares, but if both Arabs and Jews keep to their faith there is no reason why they cannot eventulaly find some compromise." The Mormons' sensitivity towards others has helped them understand Israel's laws frowning on missionary activities. "We accpet that as a fact," says Ken, many of whose contemporaries are on missionary assignments all over the world. "The only time we indulge in anything approaching missionary work is when Israelis ask us why we smile so much. In explaining this to them we try to make them understand a little of what Mormon teaching says." The success of the study programs has induced thousands of other Mormons to make pilgrimages to Israel, and plans are now afoot for a larger, specially built center to house the study program and to provide more services for pilgrims and other visitors, Mormon and otherwise. Another example of the growing interest in Israel among Mormons is the Orson Hyde Park one of a series of parks in the green belt surrounding the Old City walls which was inaugurated in 1979 on the occa-'sion of the anniversary of Elder Hyde's visit. The large tract of land on the Mount of Olives, where Orson Hyde offered his blessing provides a place for Mormon pilgrims and students to meet and reenact the dram-tic prophecy of this early apostle. |
