Ezra Taft Benson and the State of Israel - Brandeis Institutional ...

for their long suffering. Yet, he, like most leaders before and after him, also emphasizedhis love for the Jewish people. He observed the Jewish rejection of Jesus Christ as theMessiah, but he insisted, “I do not. . . wish to find fault with them. I have a great love forthem as a people.” 20Note again the “love for [the Jewish] people,” and the apparentconcern for their restoration within Mormon theology. This was not uncommon in otherAmerican Christian denominations, but “the great innovation of the Mormons was . . .their announcement that the return of the Jews was imminent and that this event wouldgive the signal for the gathering of the Gentiles in the American Zion.” 21That the gathering of both gentiles and Jews was and is of central importance inLatter-day Saint teachings finds ample evidence in both the history and rhetoric ofMormonism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As noted, Joseph Smith taught itplentifully. He again stressed its importance in 1836 when he said, “One of the mostimportant points in the faith of the Church of the Latter-day Saints. . . is the gathering ofIsrael. . . That day is one, all important to all men.” 22 Yet, Smith not only spokeeloquently about the imminent gathering. He also took measures to ensure its coming tofruition. In 1841 he sent a mission to Palestine with the express intent of dedicating theland for the restoration of the Jews, a mission he had spoken of some 10 years earlier in ablessing to the very Orson Hyde who would complete that mission. In 1831, Smith toldElder Hyde in that blessing, “In due time thou shalt go up to Jerusalem, the land of thyfathers, and be a watchman unto the House of Israel; and by thy hands shall the MostHigh do a great work, which shall prepare the way and greatly facilitate the gathering of202122Glanz, Jew and Mormon, 103.Glanz, Jew and Mormon, 103.Ricks, “From Joseph to Joseph,” 97.10