Welfare efforts bring Jews, LDS together

Picture the following possibility, as posed by one of a handful of prominent Jewish rabbis in Salt Lake City this week to visit leaders and operations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

"We can come together to use Welfare Square and facilities there to have Jews and Mormons standing side by side, engaged in a project to help humanity," said Rabbi John Borak of Los Angeles, one of five visiting rabbis from across the country.

He and Rabbi Brad Hirschfield of New York City were making a second call to LDS headquarters in less than six months. Both cited powerful first-visit experiences as catalysts to continue discussions regarding future interfaith cooperative efforts.

Rabbi Hirschfield recalled a statement from Jim Goodrich, manager of Welfare Square: "We are taught that you go to the temple to make covenants, and you come to Welfare Square to keep them."

Saying the statement moved him to tears, Rabbi Hirschfield added, "And the test of the covenants we make is whether or not they actually benefit other people beyond our community. And it was clear to me that I was in the presence of masters of that teaching, and so why not would I return? For me, this is a beginning of shared discovery of how to strengthen that capacity in two communities."

And Rabbi Borak said he witnessed the example of "love your neighbor as yourself" — a value shared both in the Jewish Torah and LDS scriptures — at Welfare Square, adding "nobody lives it better than those in the LDS Church, in my experience."

"I was humbled by what I saw, and at the same time was profoundly inspired by what I saw," he added. "So I want to support this organization and this effort, and I see it completely as a manifestation of God's will for man being in this earth. I want to learn from it, and I want to contribute in whatever way I can."

In town Monday afternoon through Tuesday evening, the rabbis met with LDS Church officials and local Jewish leaders, with tours including Welfare Square for first-time visitors and a guided tour of the recently completed Oquirrh Mountain Temple by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve. Earlier this year, visiting rabbis toured the Draper Temple during its open-house period.

An acclaimed author, lecturer and commentator, Rabbi Hirschfield is president of CLAL, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, whose acronym is the Hebrew word "clal," meaning "inclusive."

Rabbi Hirschfield said the Jewish and Mormon communities — each with their own history and practice of generosity — see each other as "a natural ally" in many value areas, with working relationships yet to be developed or fully exploited.

"Like any good relationship, there will be stormy moments," he said. "What we know in the history of religion, that when those stormy moments are weathered by people of a genuine relationship, the storm quiets relatively quickly.

"You come together, you celebrate what you share, you acknowledge what you don't, and you always know that in any great relationship, the first is greater than the second and actually gives you the tools you need to deal with those moments when you disagree."

E-MAIL: taylor@desnews.com