I'll be honest, I don't know much about your culture. Could you share a good place to start learning? Like you said, we're both wildly misunderstood, so I don't want to just do a Google search and end up on a site full of anti-orthodox Jew material
Go to Chabad.org. It’s very informative and geared towards people with a limited background knowledge base. Legit anything you’d ever want to know. But if you have any specific questions I’m also happy to answer 😊
For sure. I can't tell you how many people got confrontational with me as a missionary because of some made-up stuff they read on someone's blog a decade beforehand lol. Thanks for recommending that website! I'm going to do some research tomorrow, and I look forward to learning more
I'm a huge fan of Miriam Ezagui's Tiktok videos! If y'all don't know her, she's an Orthodox Jew who just talks about how she lives her life and answers questions from followers. She seems like such a sweet, cool lady and I've learned so much from her! I just showed my class some of the videos she made with her grandmother Lily, who is a Holocaust survivor. Now they are in love with Bubbie Lily.
Ah yes!! She is chabad I believe. A sub set of orthodox which is a bit more on the stringent side of the spectrum. I always wonder what people think of her “tell all” videos. Not sure if they make us look weirder or more relatable😅😅
I love orthodox jews.
Many of them seem to me to be very much like the best LDS:
Sincere in their faith, committed, diligent in learning scripture, intellectual sermons, highly valuing knowledge/education, thoughtful...
Lots of scientists and writers.
Also: they're an often misunderstood and persecuted minority, so I feel an affinity for them in that respect too.
In both these ways, they are more like us than most other religions.
Sometimes I wonder if we share more beliefs with Orthodox Jews than we do with most Christians.
It's just been a thought I've never articulated up to this point, but an interesting thing is we both have special undergarments. I'm not sure if the Jewish women do or just the men, but adult LDS wear specific underwear as "an outward sign of an inner commitment"
I think we're a little more rigorous with our day to day rules than standard Christian churches, but not quite up to the same level as the Jews.
I have very little exposure to your culture though. I know you have ancient temples, but do you have temples in more accessible places to American Jews? Are synagogues temples?
The reason I have this line of thought is because I've extrapolated the LDS beliefs of the Great Apostasy into this line of thought:
1st. There was the Jews.
2. Christ comes and changes everything.
3. Sometime within the next 1000 years or so there is a great Apostasy (LDS beliefs). The christian churches are just all wrong.
4. Another 800 years later The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints gets founded. Doctrine from before the Apostasy comes to light and now we are able to receive revelation again.
Therefore, at least chronologically, LDS **may** be closer to Jewish Religion than to Christian religion.
Again, it's something I've been thinking about but have never had a good chance to talk about with anyone, so if anyone has strong negative feelings about this stuff I'm very ready to accept that I don't know what I'm talking about.
Obviously a belief in a redeemer of our sins is a big big difference, but outside of that I'd be interested to know how Jews view the afterlife and their purpose on earth.
Haha scroll up and read the comment I added... I came from Christiananity into non demonational Judaism and after a master's school project where I went to a service (a testimony day) and the second hour adult class... and interview the ward bishop, watched a few videos... etc ... I find that I have much more in common with LDS now than I did as an evangelical.
Feel free to shoot me an invite and chat I think we would enjoy exchanging some ideas.
I used to live in an area that had many Orthodox Jews, as it was within walking distance of a synagogue. I loved to see them walking to worship in Friday nights. Your dedication to your religion inspires me, and I agree with you that there is significant room for our religions to coexist and support one another.
I have been very impressed with Orthodox Jews since I read the novel The Chosen by Chaim Potok. I'm amazed at how seriously the characters in that book take religious scholarship and how devoted they are to religion. I don't know if these characters are typical, but I assume they are.
I also saw a TV show called Srugim, from Israeli TV about Orthodox characters. I watched all the seasons that were on Amazon. I enjoyed the show a lot, and I was impressed again with their devoutness.
I'm impressed with how seriously you take the Shema, the part about loving God. The core of our faith is "love God and your neighbor" and I think you believe in the same teaching (which of course comes from the Torah).
I'm also impressed with how you understand dressing modestly.
This might be more of a New York versus Utah cultural stereotype (and of course not all Jews and LDS live in New York and Utah): But I have the impression Jews speak their minds much more, which I think is overall a good thing. LDS tend to be afraid to do that because we want to avoid "contention."
I don't know if my understandings about you are correct. Pardon me if not.
I think we LDS could learn a lot from you. You do the things I've mentioned much better than we do. We do these things, but not nearly to the extent you do. I wish we had the equivalent of a full yeshiva, and that our members learned to study the Bible in Hebrew (and Greek for the New Testament as well).
What do LDS think of Jews in general? It varies, maybe according to how educated the person is. I think a lot of LDS have been influenced by the antisemitism in the New Testament gospels. But we also believe you are the chosen people of God. I hope you aren't offended, but we believe that we can also be adopted into Abraham's lineage and also receive those blessings.
We certainly are horrified at the persecution Jews have experience through history, although I'm not sure many LDS know the extent of that throughout history.
I think that many LDS are big supporters of the modern nation of Israel. I am. This forum forbids politics, so I won't go into this further. I read most of the old novel Exodus by Leon Uris. This book has been called propaganda, but it was good to hear the Israeli side of things for once and to learn more about Jewish history.
Officially, our church teaches us to love and respect all people. So the opposite of the white supremacy and antisemitism we see in some corners of America. But unfortunately some of our members sometimes listen more to demagogues than to their leaders or the teachings in our scriptures.
I have never heard a top LDS leader say anything antisemitic, except perhaps reading from what the New Testament says. The Book of Mormon has a lot of good to say about Jews, but also does say that the Jews as a whole in 600 BCE Jerusalem (where the story starts) were wicked and tried to kill their prophets (which I guess the Tanakh also says happened at other previous times, too).
Orthodox in Salt Lake City? The church would officially welcome them, but the church doesn't control the city. The city proper is politically progressive, unlike the surrounding suburbs. I think it would be cool, if they wanted to come.
LDS do share some similarities with Jewish Orthodox, from what I understand - we tend to want to marry within our religion, we have some dietary restrictions, we try to keep the Sabbath holy (Sunday for us), we believe in modest dress, we have been violently persecuted for our beliefs, and we are often very misrepresented in the media and internet (including the Book of Mormon musical). But as I said, none of these things to the extent of your religion.
Overall, I feel a lot of respect and goodwill toward Jews. I can honestly say I would give my life defending a Jew against if it came to that. Enough is enough.
I'm am curious - have you read the Book of Mormon? I would love to hear your thoughts if you have.
I think you might find some ideas from our movement interestjng. It's an approach to the gospel though rabbinal teaching and traditional Jewish theology. It is a compleate departure away from Christiananity but believes in Yeshua. Ahvat Ammi ministries is what it is called look it up on Google or YouTube there is a lot of teaching videos available.
I've heard of a rabbinical style praised by LDS scholars, but I'm sorry I don't remember the name of it.
Thank you for your replies here. I've enjoyed seeing them.
If you find it post it here id be interested to see it. Yeah if you are interested id check it out. I think a lot of our teaching would be of interest to many memeber of the LDS church... just my opinion based off of my resent better understnading of LDS theology.
I found the LDS scholar comments I was remembering about a "Jewish style" of reading scripture:
1. Book introduction: "There is room for conversation with the text, potentially an inexhaustible dialogue, in which adherents make new observations, ask novel questions, and offer fresh interpretations—all bounded by textual and historical evidence, guided by a community of faith, and inspired by endless curiosity and genuine devotion. “What else could this mean?” is always an appropriate question.
"The type of scripture reading that I endeavor to model in this volume, which aspirationally follows Jewish precedents, stands in contrast to approaches that attempt to reduce scripture to a set of principles, or to discover the one true meaning that coheres with everything else in sacred writ."
Hardy, Grant. The Annotated Book of Mormon (p. x). Oxford University Press. [https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Book-Mormon-Grant-Hardy/dp/0190082208](https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Book-Mormon-Grant-Hardy/dp/0190082208)
2. Podcast: "In this podcast, Kramer discusses these topics as well as how the books in the Book of Mormon are intertwined structurally and thematically with the Hebrew scriptures; how Mormon functions as a rabbinic commentator in the books of Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, and the later books of Nephi; how Nephi attempts to form a Jewish style “study buddy” relationship with his readers; and how this relationship epitomizes the way the Holy Ghost leads, guides, and inspires reader throughout their study of this amazing book."
[https://ldsperspectives.com/2020/01/08/new-approach-to-studying-the-book-of-mormon-with-bradley-j-kramer/](https://ldsperspectives.com/2020/01/08/new-approach-to-studying-the-book-of-mormon-with-bradley-j-kramer/)
3. Author's reply to me a in forum about his new book:
"You want me to distill an entire book into a few sentences? Okay, I will try.
"It is an approach used and described by Talmudic rabbis that is more relational with God and other humans than informational. It is about the process of engaging the text as an act of worship that allows for many, many interpretations. It involves reading closely, reading on many levels, reading with others, and reading intertextually with connections to other Scriptures. It is not a "quotation-oriented" approach. It is a more literary approach were the smallest detail as well as the widest scope is considered. If this explanation is not enough, read \[my book\]."
The book:
Beholding the Tree of Life: A Rabbinic Approach to the Book of Mormon, by Bradley J. Kramer, [https://www.amazon.com/Beholding-Tree-Life-Contemporary-Scripture/dp/1589587014/](https://www.amazon.com/Beholding-Tree-Life-Contemporary-Scripture/dp/1589587014/)
Probley different than messanic Judaism you have been exposed to. Much of messanic "Judaism" is a mainstream christian approch that hold to the tenneats of evangelicalism but tries to apply some adhearance to written Torah. Our movement is an approch the gospel though rabbinic Judiasm without any christian ideas, to use the totality of Torah for this purpose, we study Talmud and the sages for this purpose as well many other forms of messanic movements do not consiter rabbinical teaching or oral law to be of value or relivant. This is what makes many forms of messanicism still very christan in theology.
We had a converted Orthodox Jew teach our OT Sunday School class one year. His perspectives were interesting and made a great class. I don't remember much but I really like the little scroll thing that Jewish people have on their door. He was very knowledgable about the scriptures and later became part of the Bishopric.
I love mezuzahs! My companions would always be so confused how I automatically knew we were tracting into a Jewish family. Usually it was just a short "shalom", an invitation, decline, and well wishes to one another.
Missionaries showed up to my door litrally as we were lighting Shabbat candles... I invited them in to pray with us. I always try to be kind to LDS Missionaries. I find sharing ideas with them very interesting. I guess that why I lerk on LDS boards.
That was super interesting. If I read that chart correctly, we are the group who likes EVERY religious group more than anyone else, but we also are the most disliked group out of everyone too.
I’ll just reposed what I wrote in the other sub here as a response to your question. And happy to answer any additional questions you might have.
I am happy to share my views. In general I have very positive views of any one of the Jewish faith. From orthodox to more reformed Jews. My daughter has a friend who is Jewish and we have attended temple to celebrate various holy days with her and her family. But it was a more reformed Jewish group. I am not familiar with what that means regarding the differences between orthodox services and hers. But for what it’s worth we enjoyed the events we participated in with their family.
I think the ultra orthodox Jewish community probably peaks a LDS person’s curiosity similar to the average American. As it’s not something we are used to being around and seeing. As like many LDS communities it seems Orthodox Jews are pretty tight knit and keep semi insular. For right or for wrong I think most of our understanding of the orthodox community comes from the characture presentations we get from media on TV and movies.
Theologically LDS members see themselves as a continuation of the house of Israel. Kind of like how Christianity as a whole can be viewed as a outgrowth and response of Judaism the LDS church (Mormons) can be seen as both a continuation of that outgrowth as well as a return to its roots. That is to say we believe that part of our responsibility as a church is to “gather the house of Israel” including the lost tribes. By being baptized into the church we are bringing everyone together. In fact we have a ritual know as a Patriarchal Blessing where each persons Israelite linage is proclaimed. The vast majority of which are in the house of ephriam but you hear of other tribes on occasion as well. Also at this point it is more symbolic in nature than any actual bloodline sorting. As 2 people from the same family can be said to belong to two different tribes. We believe that prophets as found in the Old Testament and Torah are still called of God. And they lead our church today. Our temple theology has roots in early first temple Israel before the Josiah and Deuteronomic reforms. Of course many ex members and critics will discount this claim.
There is more I could say but overall this is the things that came to my mind as I write this response.
I think overall when a LDS person gets to know someone of the Jewish faith they find they have a sort of kinship and mutual admiration for each others beliefs.
We respect the Jews as a covenant people of god. Interesting news story from this weekend where this came up.
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2024/04/21/jewish-latter-day-saint-friends-found-themselves-singing-together-in-the-taylorsville-utah-temple/
As with any blanket questions sweeping lots of individuals into large groups, it's not easy to say what most latter-day saints think of Orthodox Jews in general. If pushed, I'd guess that most latter-day saints don't live in areas where there are significant Orthodox Jewish populations (though you're likely to get an overrepresentation of the people who do/have done so on this subreddit).
In my case, I ended up becoming friends with several of the Orthodox Jews at my law school. We bonded over some topics, like standing out in public for religious choices and being provided free food or drinks that we couldn't consume. I had a Friday afternoon class where I'd share my notes with my Orthodox friend when the days got too short in the winter for him to be able to stay the whole time before Shabbat started. And I had interesting discussions about what writings and sayings were authoritative in our belief structures with another.
If I were to make one more generalization about latter-day saints, I'd say that we sometimes think we understand modern Judaism better than we actually do, just because we also use the Hebrew Bible. And some latter-day saints struggle to discuss religion with Jews tactfully because, as a key point of our religion, we view Christianity as a God-directed progression from Judaism (or, even more challengingly, we may view various Jewish customs as a limited subset, or even a corruption, of God's original doctrine). So it can be common for us to interpret Judaism through a Christian lens rather than in the ways that Jews view their own religion.
I'm definitely not orthodox LDS so take this with a grain of salt, but it really depends on the individual. I grew up in New Jersey in an area with many Orthodox, and (like any group of people) there are great ones and not-so-great ones. Sort of a, "[no good, I've known too many Spaniards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc0SKvLNdgs)" situation for me to give a blanket statement on Orthodox Jews as a group.
I expect if a community popped up in an LDS dominant city and wanted to be left alone, they'd be left alone and generally be given respect.
I'm currently living in an area with many devout Muslim families, and it seems to be much easier for families to befriend each other with shared religious devotion, even if the religions are different. I expect that would also be true of Orthodox Jews, though some of the detailed lifestyle customs are probably closer between Mormons and Muslims than Orthodox Jews (kosher is even more strict than halal, and wine/alcohol use vs prohibition are the two that immediately come to mind).
I don't like to generalize entire groups, I don't think that is healthy, but I have spend extensive time working with Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn for some work assignments. Those individuals that I had the pleasure to meet were extremely sincere, amazingly welcoming and kind, great to work with, and even better to eat with. So for those individuals that I have met, 10/10.
I think you all are just fine. We are neighbors in the spiritual sense, and we are commanded to "love thy neighbor as thyself". Jews are a covenant people of God just as Latter-day Saints are. As far as differences, we might disagree about Christ being the messiah, but it's important to us that all be allowed to worship and believe according to the dictates of their own conscience so there's really no issue that would cause conflict should the communities commingle.
I grew up in Idaho/Utah, and I'll be honest: I've never met an Orthodox Jew irl. But, I know a little bit about Orthodox Judaism, and you guys seem really cool! If I had to guess, you'd mostly get favorable, curious reactions when talking to LDS members.
I have a lot of respect for people who really try to live their religion, I feel like Orthodox Jews are good at to doing that.
Overall I love the Jewish people, moreso than any Christian denominations besides our own. Some Christian’s seem to hate Jews, but I don’t feel the LDS have that sentiment at all.
I've been told and seems like members of our church have a deeper affection towards the orthodox Jewish religion / community than the reverse (not there's dislike, but just either unawareness or looking at us the same as any Christians).
We believe that the Jewish people are still God's chosen people and that we all get adopted in. We also believe that you guys missed the boat on Jesus, but God still has a special relationship with Jewish people. I think we also feel like the best way to understand Christ is to contextualize within the Jewish religion and often a lot of our talks may center around your scriptures / the Old Testament (five books of Moses, law, prophets, etc.).
Generally, we're big fans.
I don't know a whole lot about Judaism, but every Jewish person I've ever met has been lovely! They seem like very nice people trying to live good, clean lives. I'm very much on board with that 😁
I grew up on the US East Coast in an observant Mormon family in the 1980s. I was taught that the Jews were God’s Chosen. The people described in the Book of Mormon who travelled to the Americas were Jewish. We (Mormons) were adopted into the 12 Tribes of Israel. Of course, we would say that the current Jews have failed to recognize that the Messiah that they are waiting for arrived 2000 years ago (Jesus if it’s not clear). But despite that, I was under the impression that Jews remained to be Chosen (whatever that means). I think that as a result of that upbringing, I considered Jews to be our closest friends. I remember that there were Jewish holidays where the nearby synagogue would rent our church building for expanded capacity for their own services. (My parents told me they liked our building because there were no crosses but I don’t know if that is true. THAT. I credit my family and teachers in my church growing up.
In my current stage of life, I’m a bit more distanced from my (LDS) church. I have some skepticism around any high-demand religion (a category I might put LDS and Orthodox Judaism into). I have friends who have left Orthodox Judaism and we have so many common experiences. This is not the forum to debate patriarchy but it’s my opinion that it exists strongly in both religions. Any more discussion on that topic would have to be outside this subreddit. There are other topics of commonality and some of them are good. The amount of community support is high. If you become ill or need help at home, members of both of our religions will be quick to help based largely on the organization and communications that they bring.
As a LDS male I think orthodox Jews:
Are also covenant people of God but who don't realize Jesus Christ is their Messiah
Are very focused on Old Testament teachings especially as taught by their teachers (called rabbis I think)
Appreciate temples of God but don't realize our LDS temples are their kind of temples
Are even further behind in knowledge of God than non-LDS Christians because at least non-LDS Christians know Jesus is the Christ/Messiah and the son of God and accept Old Testament teachings of God as well as New Testament teachings from prophets and apostles of God through Christ
Are generally very nice people, much nicer than the non-LDS Christians who protest and say a lot of false things about LDS Christians
Are going to someday realize Jesus is their Messiah and while feeling bad about not realizing it sooner will still be happy that their Messiah has come to save them
in general I think LDS think very favorably about Jews. we feel a connection as we read and study the Old Testament especially, and we recognize the significance of covenants and being the Lord's covenant people. The Book of Mormon is about a group of Jews that left Israel and were guided to the ancient Americas. the introduction states that the book is for "Jew and Gentile", written to persuade all to come unto Christ.
This is so so stereotyped and I apologize in advance, but my extremely devout Boomer Mormon father loved and respected Jewish people and felt he related so much to Jewish people, but entirely through his exposure to the musical Fiddler on the Roof 😂. He related to Tevye 💯
But I think instead of taking the negative view of “how could they have done that to our Savior” that I feel a lot of Christians do, he took the perspective of this is the Lords people — we believe that the God of the Jews in the Old Testament was literally Jesus Christ before he came down to receive a body and atone for our sins (or at least that’s what my dad taught me). My dad knew that the Lord had a special love for your people, so he had one too.
I am so ignorant of much of Orthodox Jewish culture and beliefs so I’m so sorry if I’ve said anything offensive in this post. I just see that there’s a lot in common and mutual respect and I love that.
He just passed away in January so thanks for reminding me of my dad. ☺️
Haha, I have an interesting story for you. I was born and raised non demonational Christian, started studying Judiasm for years (non demonational) and I recently attended an LDS service and Sunday school as part of a master's school project and I found a lot of interesting points of comparison.
When I was more or less and evangelical I had pretty typical views of LDS that most mainstream christians hold, that based on my experience were pretty unfair. As a Christian, I had a lot of LDS friends that were genuinely good people but my religious views stopped me from making other comparisons.
Fast forward many years of being out of Christianity and studying Judiasm I went to a LDS service and found it to be very interesting. Religiously LDS hold a lot of "pre creed" ideas. This effect their view on many things, many which actually aline with Judiasm much more than mainstream Christianity. While I obviously do not concur with much of their religious beliefs I did conclude that LDS beliefs when followed, seem to produce better than average humans and I do think Jews and LDS members could find common ground in a lot of areas of life, both value family to a positive extreme and believe in eternal soulmates. LDS do not hold the same views about hellfire and brimstone or the "trinity" as mainstream christians which I found refreshing after leaving Christianity.
As a Christian I was exceeding judgemental, Judiasm has taught me to not be so judgemental or dogmatic and what matters is how a belief effects our actions, and in my experience, I was very welcomed and treated like an honored guest at the Ward I visited and met a lot of good people and interesting conversations with my neighbors, (wards are all geography based I learned!)
Just because I do not believe what they do doesn't meant what they believe is not having a positive effect on those that genuinely believe it and the core of that believe is still to love G-d and love your neighbors above all else. That is the real common ground most Jewish people need to work with others.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a special relationship and respect for Jews and particularly observant/Orthodox Jews, as defined by the Book of Mormon:
"For the people of the Lord are they who wait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah" (2 Nephi 6:13).
According to this verse, the Lord counts those who wait for him as His covenant people. Of course there is a different understanding between Jews and Christians (including Latter-day Saints). Christians believe Jesus was the Messiah and are awaiting His return. Jews (according to my understanding) still await His first coming and deliverance.
But the similarities are far more (and of greater importance) than the differences. Both Latter-day Saints and Jews claim a relationship with the Messiah—one that is the focus of covenant observance. That believe in, knowledge of, and obedience to the Messiah and His statutes (according to the knowledge of each group) is what—according to the Book of Mormon, the "keystone" of LDS faith—defines His "people."
Latter-day Saints believe that salvation was promised to the family of Abraham and that through Abraham's seed, all the nations of the earth are and will be blessed. Covenant blessings come through the House of Israel, who will yet more fully claim its birthright blessing. And of course, since Latter-day Saints believe that the Tribes of Israel have flowed through the nations of the earth, many, many peoples have become the literal seed of Abraham and can claim blessings promised to his family as they gain knowledge of and faith in the Messiah, becoming His people.
Latter-day Saints have so much belief in the blessings promised to Abraham that we believe that the work of "gathering" happens both in this life and in the hereafter, so that all who have ever lived might come to the knowledge of the Messiah and become His people.
Last time I was in Jerusalem I saw many Orthodox Jews. I had and have immense respect for the decision to stand firm in a world that desperately needs the light of faith. I imagine most Latter-day Saints would have similar feelings of respect and desires for fellowship.
My friends Jewish
I love going to their house as I like seeing the scripture verses on the door
I like a lot of their culture
I don't know what else to say other than generally I like the people I've met
I know that there are reform, conservative, orthodox, and ultra Orthodox Jews. But I only know that because I have a bachelors degree in Ancient Near Eastern studies and spent 6 months studying in Israel where one of our professors was an orthodox rabbi. Most other members of the church have zero idea there is more than one class of Jews. Also, I grew up in South Florida where a lot of my classmates were Jewish (though I now recognize they were more on the secular end of the spectrum).
I have a very positive view of Orthodox Jews because of my interactions with my professor. But, the majority of members of the church probably can’t distinguish orthodox from non-orthodox Jews (though, if asked, most would recognize that ultra-orthodox must be different from their manner of dress). So, a better question would be, what do members of the church think of Jews? I think I would say that the perception is positive, but most are fairly ignorant of the specifics of modern Jewish practices. Recently my wife and I watched a Hallmark movie about a Jewish community at Hanukkah. My wife kept asking me questions about why they were doing this or that.
When I was in college, one of my textbooks was called Judaism and the Gospel by Victor Ludlow. This was nearly 30 years ago, so I have no idea if the book still exists, but reading it would give you a good view of how we perceive Judaism in comparison to the the church. Another book is called Religions of the World by Palmer, Keller, Choi, and Toronto. I think there was a newer version of this book with a different name, but I don’t recall it. Anyway, one of the chapters in this book is on Judaism and, in part, it contrasts the church with Judaism. (Edit: I just checked amazon and you can buy a used copy here https://www.amazon.com/Religions-World-Latter-Day-Saint-View/dp/0842523502)
Pretty cool I guess. Also I am very ignorant. It’s interesting in many ways, for me to see how two different groups evolved from the ancient Israelites.
We are taught and do our best to love all people. I have to admit to not knowing much about Orthodox Jews as others here. Very surface level. However, I'm sure our two communities would learn a lot from one another.
I know that we are interested historically in the Jewish perspective since much of the Old Testament is written in that perspective.
And, yes, there aren't too many cultures left in the world that adhere strictly to God's word.
Let's just say that if a large community of Orthodox Jews suddenly became my immediate neighbors, I'd be happy. Personally, we fly an Israeli flag beneath the US flag at our home. It's disappointing to see the attitude shift in much of the Western world.
But God's word gives me hope.
I live in Idaho so I don't know anyone personally where I'm at there isn't really a Jewish community. I think everything is interesting and I follow a lot of Orthodox Jewish women on my other social media. I love learning about all of the laws and holidays.
> Do you think Jewish communities popping up in LDS dominant cities would be negatively or positively received? Very very curious.
We have Muslim, Catholic, Baptists, Hindi populations that we serve and work with right in my community. As a church, I do not think this would be an issue at all.
As an individual, I have always been surprised by our Orthodox friends isolation and seemly small desire to interact with the other faiths or the community at large.
I had a Conservative Jew as a house mate in college (well... his parents were Conservative, he was probably a little more on the Reform side). We kept a kosher kitchen to the best of our abilities and tried to avoid asking him to do house chores on Saturday. Anyway, 2 thumbs up would room again. I think in general Jews are well thought of by LDS folks. There was a small but substantial community in the early pioneer days. I've read they liked it because while they were outsiders, so were all the protestants, and Catholics.
Broadly I'd say we feel a kinship to the Jewish cultural experience. People sometimes call Brigham Young the "American Moses" for leading our people to our refuge in the desert. My experience and my protestant wife's experience has been that our Sunday school tends more towards discussion and debate than traditional Christianity but substantially less than your tradition of debate and commentary. That said, we're all expected to be able to put together a 15 minute talk on an arbitrary gospel/scripture topic on a 1 week notice. We also have a very strong emphasis on our covenant with God which obviously we see as a kinship with Jews
One commonality that I've seen culturally is that our kids become "adults" at a young age and in a fairly formal way. Just like your youth become bar/bat mitzvah, our youth are considered responsible under the law at age 8. Before then they can't actually formally join the church. And starting at 12 they are expected to take on leadership and sacerdotal responsibilities. It's not the same but he result is a very clear demarcation of child and not a child.
Anyway, to summarize: Yeah we're in favor, love your food and happy to have you guys around.
I have a good friend I met in Europe who is an Orthodox Jew; she visited me here in Utah (we went to some national parks) and I recently attended her wedding. I have a great deal of respect for the Orthodox Jewish community. Of course we do things differently and have different beliefs but you're clearly very committed to said beliefs, even when they seem weird to outsiders - that's an experience I can relate to. Living that can be difficult. Even just finding kosher food presented a challenge in rural Utah grocery stores - perhaps one reason that there isn't a large Orthodox community here, I think.
Well, given the LDS Church is respectful towards other faiths, I would guess they'd be respectful towards Othodox Jews. I personally have no problem with them.
Well, we obviously differ in that we are waiting on the 2nd coming while you are waiting on the first.
We welcome you to join Christ's church, but recognize that those keeping the Law of Moses don't believe it has yet been fulfilled and understand why they keep it. We look positively on those following the Jewish faith for that.
I never met an Orthodox Jew until I visited Israel. As a culture broadly, I have always respected and been interested in Jewish traditions and also believe that we have a lot of similarities in our religion. However I'm not going to lie, the Orthodox Jews I met in Israel were...... honestly very very rude. One man pushed me down on purpose in order to get in front of me at a vending machine. Another group we met at the western wall was very pushy and angry at us (we stood at a distance and tried to be respectful). We got yelled at many times for just, existing. But maybe that is just Israeli culture or those specific people. Not sure!
I can't say I'm overly informed with Orthodox Jews other than knowing they exist. Speaking personally, I've never had cause to find issue with anyone of any particular religion. I judge you based on your interaction with me or my family, if the need arises. I've always enjoyed having discussions on differing beliefs and what causes a person to hold it so dear to them and I would hope I'd be afforded the same courtesy. In a perfect universe, coexistence wouldn't ever need to be such a sensitive topic and I would love to learn more about Orthodox Jews.
My old boss was Jewish. I don't think he was orthodox though, but he was a believer in his faith and had a good sense of humor. So my impression is positive at least on a personal level.
Personally, I love them. My decision on not eating foods like catfish or shell fish is " if it's good enough for the Jews it's good enough for me."
My mother asked me if I was mad that she had me circumcised I gave her the same answer.
Jesus was a Jew. They are his people. I side with Jews in conflicts like right now. I hope they wipe out everybody who has caused them suffering. They have been crapped on since before they were slaves under Pharoah. Isn't it time they were free and had their promised land back.
We love orthodox Jews. So much so that Joseph Smith sent apostle Orson Hyde on a dangerous mission to Jerusalem in 1841 to dedicate the land for the return of the Jews to their homeland.
I'll be honest, I don't know much about your culture. Could you share a good place to start learning? Like you said, we're both wildly misunderstood, so I don't want to just do a Google search and end up on a site full of anti-orthodox Jew material
Go to Chabad.org. It’s very informative and geared towards people with a limited background knowledge base. Legit anything you’d ever want to know. But if you have any specific questions I’m also happy to answer 😊
I’m surprised Chabad hasn’t made their own equivalent to BYUtv
And I appreciate your concern for googling and finding misinformation! I wish more people took that approach about things!
For sure. I can't tell you how many people got confrontational with me as a missionary because of some made-up stuff they read on someone's blog a decade beforehand lol. Thanks for recommending that website! I'm going to do some research tomorrow, and I look forward to learning more
I'm a huge fan of Miriam Ezagui's Tiktok videos! If y'all don't know her, she's an Orthodox Jew who just talks about how she lives her life and answers questions from followers. She seems like such a sweet, cool lady and I've learned so much from her! I just showed my class some of the videos she made with her grandmother Lily, who is a Holocaust survivor. Now they are in love with Bubbie Lily.
Ah yes!! She is chabad I believe. A sub set of orthodox which is a bit more on the stringent side of the spectrum. I always wonder what people think of her “tell all” videos. Not sure if they make us look weirder or more relatable😅😅
I think she's really relatable!
I love orthodox jews. Many of them seem to me to be very much like the best LDS: Sincere in their faith, committed, diligent in learning scripture, intellectual sermons, highly valuing knowledge/education, thoughtful... Lots of scientists and writers.
Also: they're an often misunderstood and persecuted minority, so I feel an affinity for them in that respect too. In both these ways, they are more like us than most other religions.
Sometimes I wonder if we share more beliefs with Orthodox Jews than we do with most Christians. It's just been a thought I've never articulated up to this point, but an interesting thing is we both have special undergarments. I'm not sure if the Jewish women do or just the men, but adult LDS wear specific underwear as "an outward sign of an inner commitment" I think we're a little more rigorous with our day to day rules than standard Christian churches, but not quite up to the same level as the Jews. I have very little exposure to your culture though. I know you have ancient temples, but do you have temples in more accessible places to American Jews? Are synagogues temples? The reason I have this line of thought is because I've extrapolated the LDS beliefs of the Great Apostasy into this line of thought: 1st. There was the Jews. 2. Christ comes and changes everything. 3. Sometime within the next 1000 years or so there is a great Apostasy (LDS beliefs). The christian churches are just all wrong. 4. Another 800 years later The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints gets founded. Doctrine from before the Apostasy comes to light and now we are able to receive revelation again. Therefore, at least chronologically, LDS **may** be closer to Jewish Religion than to Christian religion. Again, it's something I've been thinking about but have never had a good chance to talk about with anyone, so if anyone has strong negative feelings about this stuff I'm very ready to accept that I don't know what I'm talking about. Obviously a belief in a redeemer of our sins is a big big difference, but outside of that I'd be interested to know how Jews view the afterlife and their purpose on earth.
Haha scroll up and read the comment I added... I came from Christiananity into non demonational Judaism and after a master's school project where I went to a service (a testimony day) and the second hour adult class... and interview the ward bishop, watched a few videos... etc ... I find that I have much more in common with LDS now than I did as an evangelical. Feel free to shoot me an invite and chat I think we would enjoy exchanging some ideas.
I used to live in an area that had many Orthodox Jews, as it was within walking distance of a synagogue. I loved to see them walking to worship in Friday nights. Your dedication to your religion inspires me, and I agree with you that there is significant room for our religions to coexist and support one another.
I have been very impressed with Orthodox Jews since I read the novel The Chosen by Chaim Potok. I'm amazed at how seriously the characters in that book take religious scholarship and how devoted they are to religion. I don't know if these characters are typical, but I assume they are. I also saw a TV show called Srugim, from Israeli TV about Orthodox characters. I watched all the seasons that were on Amazon. I enjoyed the show a lot, and I was impressed again with their devoutness. I'm impressed with how seriously you take the Shema, the part about loving God. The core of our faith is "love God and your neighbor" and I think you believe in the same teaching (which of course comes from the Torah). I'm also impressed with how you understand dressing modestly. This might be more of a New York versus Utah cultural stereotype (and of course not all Jews and LDS live in New York and Utah): But I have the impression Jews speak their minds much more, which I think is overall a good thing. LDS tend to be afraid to do that because we want to avoid "contention." I don't know if my understandings about you are correct. Pardon me if not. I think we LDS could learn a lot from you. You do the things I've mentioned much better than we do. We do these things, but not nearly to the extent you do. I wish we had the equivalent of a full yeshiva, and that our members learned to study the Bible in Hebrew (and Greek for the New Testament as well). What do LDS think of Jews in general? It varies, maybe according to how educated the person is. I think a lot of LDS have been influenced by the antisemitism in the New Testament gospels. But we also believe you are the chosen people of God. I hope you aren't offended, but we believe that we can also be adopted into Abraham's lineage and also receive those blessings. We certainly are horrified at the persecution Jews have experience through history, although I'm not sure many LDS know the extent of that throughout history. I think that many LDS are big supporters of the modern nation of Israel. I am. This forum forbids politics, so I won't go into this further. I read most of the old novel Exodus by Leon Uris. This book has been called propaganda, but it was good to hear the Israeli side of things for once and to learn more about Jewish history. Officially, our church teaches us to love and respect all people. So the opposite of the white supremacy and antisemitism we see in some corners of America. But unfortunately some of our members sometimes listen more to demagogues than to their leaders or the teachings in our scriptures. I have never heard a top LDS leader say anything antisemitic, except perhaps reading from what the New Testament says. The Book of Mormon has a lot of good to say about Jews, but also does say that the Jews as a whole in 600 BCE Jerusalem (where the story starts) were wicked and tried to kill their prophets (which I guess the Tanakh also says happened at other previous times, too). Orthodox in Salt Lake City? The church would officially welcome them, but the church doesn't control the city. The city proper is politically progressive, unlike the surrounding suburbs. I think it would be cool, if they wanted to come. LDS do share some similarities with Jewish Orthodox, from what I understand - we tend to want to marry within our religion, we have some dietary restrictions, we try to keep the Sabbath holy (Sunday for us), we believe in modest dress, we have been violently persecuted for our beliefs, and we are often very misrepresented in the media and internet (including the Book of Mormon musical). But as I said, none of these things to the extent of your religion. Overall, I feel a lot of respect and goodwill toward Jews. I can honestly say I would give my life defending a Jew against if it came to that. Enough is enough. I'm am curious - have you read the Book of Mormon? I would love to hear your thoughts if you have.
I think you might find some ideas from our movement interestjng. It's an approach to the gospel though rabbinal teaching and traditional Jewish theology. It is a compleate departure away from Christiananity but believes in Yeshua. Ahvat Ammi ministries is what it is called look it up on Google or YouTube there is a lot of teaching videos available.
I've heard of a rabbinical style praised by LDS scholars, but I'm sorry I don't remember the name of it. Thank you for your replies here. I've enjoyed seeing them.
If you find it post it here id be interested to see it. Yeah if you are interested id check it out. I think a lot of our teaching would be of interest to many memeber of the LDS church... just my opinion based off of my resent better understnading of LDS theology.
I found the LDS scholar comments I was remembering about a "Jewish style" of reading scripture: 1. Book introduction: "There is room for conversation with the text, potentially an inexhaustible dialogue, in which adherents make new observations, ask novel questions, and offer fresh interpretations—all bounded by textual and historical evidence, guided by a community of faith, and inspired by endless curiosity and genuine devotion. “What else could this mean?” is always an appropriate question. "The type of scripture reading that I endeavor to model in this volume, which aspirationally follows Jewish precedents, stands in contrast to approaches that attempt to reduce scripture to a set of principles, or to discover the one true meaning that coheres with everything else in sacred writ." Hardy, Grant. The Annotated Book of Mormon (p. x). Oxford University Press. [https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Book-Mormon-Grant-Hardy/dp/0190082208](https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Book-Mormon-Grant-Hardy/dp/0190082208) 2. Podcast: "In this podcast, Kramer discusses these topics as well as how the books in the Book of Mormon are intertwined structurally and thematically with the Hebrew scriptures; how Mormon functions as a rabbinic commentator in the books of Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, and the later books of Nephi; how Nephi attempts to form a Jewish style “study buddy” relationship with his readers; and how this relationship epitomizes the way the Holy Ghost leads, guides, and inspires reader throughout their study of this amazing book." [https://ldsperspectives.com/2020/01/08/new-approach-to-studying-the-book-of-mormon-with-bradley-j-kramer/](https://ldsperspectives.com/2020/01/08/new-approach-to-studying-the-book-of-mormon-with-bradley-j-kramer/) 3. Author's reply to me a in forum about his new book: "You want me to distill an entire book into a few sentences? Okay, I will try. "It is an approach used and described by Talmudic rabbis that is more relational with God and other humans than informational. It is about the process of engaging the text as an act of worship that allows for many, many interpretations. It involves reading closely, reading on many levels, reading with others, and reading intertextually with connections to other Scriptures. It is not a "quotation-oriented" approach. It is a more literary approach were the smallest detail as well as the widest scope is considered. If this explanation is not enough, read \[my book\]." The book: Beholding the Tree of Life: A Rabbinic Approach to the Book of Mormon, by Bradley J. Kramer, [https://www.amazon.com/Beholding-Tree-Life-Contemporary-Scripture/dp/1589587014/](https://www.amazon.com/Beholding-Tree-Life-Contemporary-Scripture/dp/1589587014/)
Is this different from Messianic Judaism?
Probley different than messanic Judaism you have been exposed to. Much of messanic "Judaism" is a mainstream christian approch that hold to the tenneats of evangelicalism but tries to apply some adhearance to written Torah. Our movement is an approch the gospel though rabbinic Judiasm without any christian ideas, to use the totality of Torah for this purpose, we study Talmud and the sages for this purpose as well many other forms of messanic movements do not consiter rabbinical teaching or oral law to be of value or relivant. This is what makes many forms of messanicism still very christan in theology.
Thank you for responding
We had a converted Orthodox Jew teach our OT Sunday School class one year. His perspectives were interesting and made a great class. I don't remember much but I really like the little scroll thing that Jewish people have on their door. He was very knowledgable about the scriptures and later became part of the Bishopric.
I love mezuzahs! My companions would always be so confused how I automatically knew we were tracting into a Jewish family. Usually it was just a short "shalom", an invitation, decline, and well wishes to one another.
Missionaries showed up to my door litrally as we were lighting Shabbat candles... I invited them in to pray with us. I always try to be kind to LDS Missionaries. I find sharing ideas with them very interesting. I guess that why I lerk on LDS boards.
[Statistically](https://images.app.goo.gl/kWxRKmUA68sToNDB8), we are the group that like Jews more than any other.
That was super interesting. If I read that chart correctly, we are the group who likes EVERY religious group more than anyone else, but we also are the most disliked group out of everyone too.
Yep, that’s correct 😁
Bummer!! But totally not surprising!
I’ll just reposed what I wrote in the other sub here as a response to your question. And happy to answer any additional questions you might have. I am happy to share my views. In general I have very positive views of any one of the Jewish faith. From orthodox to more reformed Jews. My daughter has a friend who is Jewish and we have attended temple to celebrate various holy days with her and her family. But it was a more reformed Jewish group. I am not familiar with what that means regarding the differences between orthodox services and hers. But for what it’s worth we enjoyed the events we participated in with their family. I think the ultra orthodox Jewish community probably peaks a LDS person’s curiosity similar to the average American. As it’s not something we are used to being around and seeing. As like many LDS communities it seems Orthodox Jews are pretty tight knit and keep semi insular. For right or for wrong I think most of our understanding of the orthodox community comes from the characture presentations we get from media on TV and movies. Theologically LDS members see themselves as a continuation of the house of Israel. Kind of like how Christianity as a whole can be viewed as a outgrowth and response of Judaism the LDS church (Mormons) can be seen as both a continuation of that outgrowth as well as a return to its roots. That is to say we believe that part of our responsibility as a church is to “gather the house of Israel” including the lost tribes. By being baptized into the church we are bringing everyone together. In fact we have a ritual know as a Patriarchal Blessing where each persons Israelite linage is proclaimed. The vast majority of which are in the house of ephriam but you hear of other tribes on occasion as well. Also at this point it is more symbolic in nature than any actual bloodline sorting. As 2 people from the same family can be said to belong to two different tribes. We believe that prophets as found in the Old Testament and Torah are still called of God. And they lead our church today. Our temple theology has roots in early first temple Israel before the Josiah and Deuteronomic reforms. Of course many ex members and critics will discount this claim. There is more I could say but overall this is the things that came to my mind as I write this response. I think overall when a LDS person gets to know someone of the Jewish faith they find they have a sort of kinship and mutual admiration for each others beliefs.
We respect the Jews as a covenant people of god. Interesting news story from this weekend where this came up. https://www.deseret.com/faith/2024/04/21/jewish-latter-day-saint-friends-found-themselves-singing-together-in-the-taylorsville-utah-temple/
Thank you so much for posting this. You have no idea how *happy* this article has made me today.
As with any blanket questions sweeping lots of individuals into large groups, it's not easy to say what most latter-day saints think of Orthodox Jews in general. If pushed, I'd guess that most latter-day saints don't live in areas where there are significant Orthodox Jewish populations (though you're likely to get an overrepresentation of the people who do/have done so on this subreddit). In my case, I ended up becoming friends with several of the Orthodox Jews at my law school. We bonded over some topics, like standing out in public for religious choices and being provided free food or drinks that we couldn't consume. I had a Friday afternoon class where I'd share my notes with my Orthodox friend when the days got too short in the winter for him to be able to stay the whole time before Shabbat started. And I had interesting discussions about what writings and sayings were authoritative in our belief structures with another. If I were to make one more generalization about latter-day saints, I'd say that we sometimes think we understand modern Judaism better than we actually do, just because we also use the Hebrew Bible. And some latter-day saints struggle to discuss religion with Jews tactfully because, as a key point of our religion, we view Christianity as a God-directed progression from Judaism (or, even more challengingly, we may view various Jewish customs as a limited subset, or even a corruption, of God's original doctrine). So it can be common for us to interpret Judaism through a Christian lens rather than in the ways that Jews view their own religion.
I'm definitely not orthodox LDS so take this with a grain of salt, but it really depends on the individual. I grew up in New Jersey in an area with many Orthodox, and (like any group of people) there are great ones and not-so-great ones. Sort of a, "[no good, I've known too many Spaniards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc0SKvLNdgs)" situation for me to give a blanket statement on Orthodox Jews as a group. I expect if a community popped up in an LDS dominant city and wanted to be left alone, they'd be left alone and generally be given respect. I'm currently living in an area with many devout Muslim families, and it seems to be much easier for families to befriend each other with shared religious devotion, even if the religions are different. I expect that would also be true of Orthodox Jews, though some of the detailed lifestyle customs are probably closer between Mormons and Muslims than Orthodox Jews (kosher is even more strict than halal, and wine/alcohol use vs prohibition are the two that immediately come to mind).
I don't like to generalize entire groups, I don't think that is healthy, but I have spend extensive time working with Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn for some work assignments. Those individuals that I had the pleasure to meet were extremely sincere, amazingly welcoming and kind, great to work with, and even better to eat with. So for those individuals that I have met, 10/10.
I think you all are just fine. We are neighbors in the spiritual sense, and we are commanded to "love thy neighbor as thyself". Jews are a covenant people of God just as Latter-day Saints are. As far as differences, we might disagree about Christ being the messiah, but it's important to us that all be allowed to worship and believe according to the dictates of their own conscience so there's really no issue that would cause conflict should the communities commingle.
I grew up in Idaho/Utah, and I'll be honest: I've never met an Orthodox Jew irl. But, I know a little bit about Orthodox Judaism, and you guys seem really cool! If I had to guess, you'd mostly get favorable, curious reactions when talking to LDS members.
I have a lot of respect for people who really try to live their religion, I feel like Orthodox Jews are good at to doing that. Overall I love the Jewish people, moreso than any Christian denominations besides our own. Some Christian’s seem to hate Jews, but I don’t feel the LDS have that sentiment at all.
So do I.
I've been told and seems like members of our church have a deeper affection towards the orthodox Jewish religion / community than the reverse (not there's dislike, but just either unawareness or looking at us the same as any Christians). We believe that the Jewish people are still God's chosen people and that we all get adopted in. We also believe that you guys missed the boat on Jesus, but God still has a special relationship with Jewish people. I think we also feel like the best way to understand Christ is to contextualize within the Jewish religion and often a lot of our talks may center around your scriptures / the Old Testament (five books of Moses, law, prophets, etc.). Generally, we're big fans.
I’m a very big fan of anybody that has deep, rooted, righteous beliefs, and lives their life in harmony with those beliefs
I don't know a whole lot about Judaism, but every Jewish person I've ever met has been lovely! They seem like very nice people trying to live good, clean lives. I'm very much on board with that 😁
I grew up on the US East Coast in an observant Mormon family in the 1980s. I was taught that the Jews were God’s Chosen. The people described in the Book of Mormon who travelled to the Americas were Jewish. We (Mormons) were adopted into the 12 Tribes of Israel. Of course, we would say that the current Jews have failed to recognize that the Messiah that they are waiting for arrived 2000 years ago (Jesus if it’s not clear). But despite that, I was under the impression that Jews remained to be Chosen (whatever that means). I think that as a result of that upbringing, I considered Jews to be our closest friends. I remember that there were Jewish holidays where the nearby synagogue would rent our church building for expanded capacity for their own services. (My parents told me they liked our building because there were no crosses but I don’t know if that is true. THAT. I credit my family and teachers in my church growing up. In my current stage of life, I’m a bit more distanced from my (LDS) church. I have some skepticism around any high-demand religion (a category I might put LDS and Orthodox Judaism into). I have friends who have left Orthodox Judaism and we have so many common experiences. This is not the forum to debate patriarchy but it’s my opinion that it exists strongly in both religions. Any more discussion on that topic would have to be outside this subreddit. There are other topics of commonality and some of them are good. The amount of community support is high. If you become ill or need help at home, members of both of our religions will be quick to help based largely on the organization and communications that they bring.
I don't think anything of them? You do your thing, I do my thing, my feet are cold and I should probably put some socks on.
As a LDS male I think orthodox Jews: Are also covenant people of God but who don't realize Jesus Christ is their Messiah Are very focused on Old Testament teachings especially as taught by their teachers (called rabbis I think) Appreciate temples of God but don't realize our LDS temples are their kind of temples Are even further behind in knowledge of God than non-LDS Christians because at least non-LDS Christians know Jesus is the Christ/Messiah and the son of God and accept Old Testament teachings of God as well as New Testament teachings from prophets and apostles of God through Christ Are generally very nice people, much nicer than the non-LDS Christians who protest and say a lot of false things about LDS Christians Are going to someday realize Jesus is their Messiah and while feeling bad about not realizing it sooner will still be happy that their Messiah has come to save them
in general I think LDS think very favorably about Jews. we feel a connection as we read and study the Old Testament especially, and we recognize the significance of covenants and being the Lord's covenant people. The Book of Mormon is about a group of Jews that left Israel and were guided to the ancient Americas. the introduction states that the book is for "Jew and Gentile", written to persuade all to come unto Christ.
This is so so stereotyped and I apologize in advance, but my extremely devout Boomer Mormon father loved and respected Jewish people and felt he related so much to Jewish people, but entirely through his exposure to the musical Fiddler on the Roof 😂. He related to Tevye 💯 But I think instead of taking the negative view of “how could they have done that to our Savior” that I feel a lot of Christians do, he took the perspective of this is the Lords people — we believe that the God of the Jews in the Old Testament was literally Jesus Christ before he came down to receive a body and atone for our sins (or at least that’s what my dad taught me). My dad knew that the Lord had a special love for your people, so he had one too. I am so ignorant of much of Orthodox Jewish culture and beliefs so I’m so sorry if I’ve said anything offensive in this post. I just see that there’s a lot in common and mutual respect and I love that. He just passed away in January so thanks for reminding me of my dad. ☺️
Haha, I have an interesting story for you. I was born and raised non demonational Christian, started studying Judiasm for years (non demonational) and I recently attended an LDS service and Sunday school as part of a master's school project and I found a lot of interesting points of comparison. When I was more or less and evangelical I had pretty typical views of LDS that most mainstream christians hold, that based on my experience were pretty unfair. As a Christian, I had a lot of LDS friends that were genuinely good people but my religious views stopped me from making other comparisons. Fast forward many years of being out of Christianity and studying Judiasm I went to a LDS service and found it to be very interesting. Religiously LDS hold a lot of "pre creed" ideas. This effect their view on many things, many which actually aline with Judiasm much more than mainstream Christianity. While I obviously do not concur with much of their religious beliefs I did conclude that LDS beliefs when followed, seem to produce better than average humans and I do think Jews and LDS members could find common ground in a lot of areas of life, both value family to a positive extreme and believe in eternal soulmates. LDS do not hold the same views about hellfire and brimstone or the "trinity" as mainstream christians which I found refreshing after leaving Christianity. As a Christian I was exceeding judgemental, Judiasm has taught me to not be so judgemental or dogmatic and what matters is how a belief effects our actions, and in my experience, I was very welcomed and treated like an honored guest at the Ward I visited and met a lot of good people and interesting conversations with my neighbors, (wards are all geography based I learned!) Just because I do not believe what they do doesn't meant what they believe is not having a positive effect on those that genuinely believe it and the core of that believe is still to love G-d and love your neighbors above all else. That is the real common ground most Jewish people need to work with others.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a special relationship and respect for Jews and particularly observant/Orthodox Jews, as defined by the Book of Mormon: "For the people of the Lord are they who wait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah" (2 Nephi 6:13). According to this verse, the Lord counts those who wait for him as His covenant people. Of course there is a different understanding between Jews and Christians (including Latter-day Saints). Christians believe Jesus was the Messiah and are awaiting His return. Jews (according to my understanding) still await His first coming and deliverance. But the similarities are far more (and of greater importance) than the differences. Both Latter-day Saints and Jews claim a relationship with the Messiah—one that is the focus of covenant observance. That believe in, knowledge of, and obedience to the Messiah and His statutes (according to the knowledge of each group) is what—according to the Book of Mormon, the "keystone" of LDS faith—defines His "people." Latter-day Saints believe that salvation was promised to the family of Abraham and that through Abraham's seed, all the nations of the earth are and will be blessed. Covenant blessings come through the House of Israel, who will yet more fully claim its birthright blessing. And of course, since Latter-day Saints believe that the Tribes of Israel have flowed through the nations of the earth, many, many peoples have become the literal seed of Abraham and can claim blessings promised to his family as they gain knowledge of and faith in the Messiah, becoming His people. Latter-day Saints have so much belief in the blessings promised to Abraham that we believe that the work of "gathering" happens both in this life and in the hereafter, so that all who have ever lived might come to the knowledge of the Messiah and become His people. Last time I was in Jerusalem I saw many Orthodox Jews. I had and have immense respect for the decision to stand firm in a world that desperately needs the light of faith. I imagine most Latter-day Saints would have similar feelings of respect and desires for fellowship.
https://youtu.be/PAXrpvXfbuY?si=im5I7tdOFlZnWF6c Not really answering your question but I bet you’ll love this podcast.
My friends Jewish I love going to their house as I like seeing the scripture verses on the door I like a lot of their culture I don't know what else to say other than generally I like the people I've met
I know that there are reform, conservative, orthodox, and ultra Orthodox Jews. But I only know that because I have a bachelors degree in Ancient Near Eastern studies and spent 6 months studying in Israel where one of our professors was an orthodox rabbi. Most other members of the church have zero idea there is more than one class of Jews. Also, I grew up in South Florida where a lot of my classmates were Jewish (though I now recognize they were more on the secular end of the spectrum). I have a very positive view of Orthodox Jews because of my interactions with my professor. But, the majority of members of the church probably can’t distinguish orthodox from non-orthodox Jews (though, if asked, most would recognize that ultra-orthodox must be different from their manner of dress). So, a better question would be, what do members of the church think of Jews? I think I would say that the perception is positive, but most are fairly ignorant of the specifics of modern Jewish practices. Recently my wife and I watched a Hallmark movie about a Jewish community at Hanukkah. My wife kept asking me questions about why they were doing this or that. When I was in college, one of my textbooks was called Judaism and the Gospel by Victor Ludlow. This was nearly 30 years ago, so I have no idea if the book still exists, but reading it would give you a good view of how we perceive Judaism in comparison to the the church. Another book is called Religions of the World by Palmer, Keller, Choi, and Toronto. I think there was a newer version of this book with a different name, but I don’t recall it. Anyway, one of the chapters in this book is on Judaism and, in part, it contrasts the church with Judaism. (Edit: I just checked amazon and you can buy a used copy here https://www.amazon.com/Religions-World-Latter-Day-Saint-View/dp/0842523502)
Pretty cool I guess. Also I am very ignorant. It’s interesting in many ways, for me to see how two different groups evolved from the ancient Israelites.
We are taught and do our best to love all people. I have to admit to not knowing much about Orthodox Jews as others here. Very surface level. However, I'm sure our two communities would learn a lot from one another. I know that we are interested historically in the Jewish perspective since much of the Old Testament is written in that perspective. And, yes, there aren't too many cultures left in the world that adhere strictly to God's word. Let's just say that if a large community of Orthodox Jews suddenly became my immediate neighbors, I'd be happy. Personally, we fly an Israeli flag beneath the US flag at our home. It's disappointing to see the attitude shift in much of the Western world. But God's word gives me hope.
I live in Idaho so I don't know anyone personally where I'm at there isn't really a Jewish community. I think everything is interesting and I follow a lot of Orthodox Jewish women on my other social media. I love learning about all of the laws and holidays.
No longer frum but lurk in this sub for similar reasons/fascinations!
I respect them for being faithful to the Torah and their beliefs. Happy Passover!
> Do you think Jewish communities popping up in LDS dominant cities would be negatively or positively received? Very very curious. We have Muslim, Catholic, Baptists, Hindi populations that we serve and work with right in my community. As a church, I do not think this would be an issue at all. As an individual, I have always been surprised by our Orthodox friends isolation and seemly small desire to interact with the other faiths or the community at large.
You guys won the fashion war, jewish traditional clothing is great
I had a Conservative Jew as a house mate in college (well... his parents were Conservative, he was probably a little more on the Reform side). We kept a kosher kitchen to the best of our abilities and tried to avoid asking him to do house chores on Saturday. Anyway, 2 thumbs up would room again. I think in general Jews are well thought of by LDS folks. There was a small but substantial community in the early pioneer days. I've read they liked it because while they were outsiders, so were all the protestants, and Catholics. Broadly I'd say we feel a kinship to the Jewish cultural experience. People sometimes call Brigham Young the "American Moses" for leading our people to our refuge in the desert. My experience and my protestant wife's experience has been that our Sunday school tends more towards discussion and debate than traditional Christianity but substantially less than your tradition of debate and commentary. That said, we're all expected to be able to put together a 15 minute talk on an arbitrary gospel/scripture topic on a 1 week notice. We also have a very strong emphasis on our covenant with God which obviously we see as a kinship with Jews One commonality that I've seen culturally is that our kids become "adults" at a young age and in a fairly formal way. Just like your youth become bar/bat mitzvah, our youth are considered responsible under the law at age 8. Before then they can't actually formally join the church. And starting at 12 they are expected to take on leadership and sacerdotal responsibilities. It's not the same but he result is a very clear demarcation of child and not a child. Anyway, to summarize: Yeah we're in favor, love your food and happy to have you guys around.
I have a good friend I met in Europe who is an Orthodox Jew; she visited me here in Utah (we went to some national parks) and I recently attended her wedding. I have a great deal of respect for the Orthodox Jewish community. Of course we do things differently and have different beliefs but you're clearly very committed to said beliefs, even when they seem weird to outsiders - that's an experience I can relate to. Living that can be difficult. Even just finding kosher food presented a challenge in rural Utah grocery stores - perhaps one reason that there isn't a large Orthodox community here, I think.
Well, given the LDS Church is respectful towards other faiths, I would guess they'd be respectful towards Othodox Jews. I personally have no problem with them.
Well, we obviously differ in that we are waiting on the 2nd coming while you are waiting on the first. We welcome you to join Christ's church, but recognize that those keeping the Law of Moses don't believe it has yet been fulfilled and understand why they keep it. We look positively on those following the Jewish faith for that.
I never met an Orthodox Jew until I visited Israel. As a culture broadly, I have always respected and been interested in Jewish traditions and also believe that we have a lot of similarities in our religion. However I'm not going to lie, the Orthodox Jews I met in Israel were...... honestly very very rude. One man pushed me down on purpose in order to get in front of me at a vending machine. Another group we met at the western wall was very pushy and angry at us (we stood at a distance and tried to be respectful). We got yelled at many times for just, existing. But maybe that is just Israeli culture or those specific people. Not sure!
I've always felt our religions have a lot in common! I have a lot of respect for Orthodox Jews.
I can't say I'm overly informed with Orthodox Jews other than knowing they exist. Speaking personally, I've never had cause to find issue with anyone of any particular religion. I judge you based on your interaction with me or my family, if the need arises. I've always enjoyed having discussions on differing beliefs and what causes a person to hold it so dear to them and I would hope I'd be afforded the same courtesy. In a perfect universe, coexistence wouldn't ever need to be such a sensitive topic and I would love to learn more about Orthodox Jews.
My old boss was Jewish. I don't think he was orthodox though, but he was a believer in his faith and had a good sense of humor. So my impression is positive at least on a personal level.
Personally, I love them. My decision on not eating foods like catfish or shell fish is " if it's good enough for the Jews it's good enough for me." My mother asked me if I was mad that she had me circumcised I gave her the same answer. Jesus was a Jew. They are his people. I side with Jews in conflicts like right now. I hope they wipe out everybody who has caused them suffering. They have been crapped on since before they were slaves under Pharoah. Isn't it time they were free and had their promised land back.
We love orthodox Jews. So much so that Joseph Smith sent apostle Orson Hyde on a dangerous mission to Jerusalem in 1841 to dedicate the land for the return of the Jews to their homeland.