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

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audiences. The first, called, “Jews Return to Palestine and Fulfill Prophecy,” 55 was for aGeneral Conference of the LDS Church in April of 1950; the second was “an address toMormons, Non-Mormons, and Jews at the Jubilee Auditorium” in Calgary, Alberta,Canada in May, 1976, entitled, “A Message to Judah from Joseph.” 56 This address wassubsequently repeated on various occasions at gatherings around the United States. Bothmessages exhibit his strong connections to his Mormon background, as well as his uniquezeal for the Jewish people and their recently-established homeland. Another other ofBenson's speeches, though not as public, was given in 1960 to a Stake Conference 57(large regional gathering of Church members) in Washington D.C. His remarks to thegathered Latter-day Saints in 1960 both supplement and support his views as portrayed inthe other, larger addresses. After examining Benson's views from these three texts, thework of other scholars will help compare those views with other religious figures, as wellas American Christian sentiment of Benson's time.As was indicated in chapter one, Latter-day Saints have long held a singularperspective on Jews and Zionism. Like many Latter-day Saint leaders who went beforehim, Benson esteemed the Jewish people as brothers and sisters in the House of Israel. 58His 1976 address explains in great detail the basis of the special kinship that Mormonsfeel for Jews. “We are Joseph, your brothers,” he declares. “We claim kinship with youas descendants from our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We belong to the same55565758Ezra Taft Benson, “Jews Return to Palestine and Fulfill Prophecy,” address to General Conference,April 8, 1950, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints history archive, Salt Lake City, Utah.Ezra Taft Benson, “A Message to Judah from Joseph,” Ensign, December 1976.Ezra Taft Benson, Address at Stake Conference in Washington D.C., 1960, Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints history archive, Salt Lake City, Utah.Benson, “Message to Judah,” 4-5.22
family. We, too, are the house of Israel.” 59Benson often spoke of the “divine destiny ofthe Jewish race,” 60 again evidenced in his 1976 address where he emphasizes not onlyMormon kinship with Jews, but also kindred doctrines between the two religions. 61These doctrines, of course, include Mormon belief in the prophecies of thescattering from and later gathering of the Jews to the land of Palestine. Quoting variousprophets from the Old Testament, Benson tells how the prophecies have been fulfilledconcerning the scattering of Israel – not just regarding the Tribe of Judah, but likewisethrough the scattering of the other Tribes. 62He later comments on the suffering of theJewish people, and its part in the fulfillment of prophecy. He quotes Will Durant that “noother people has ever known so long an exile, or so hard a fate,” and then recounts hisown experience witnessing the residual trauma of the Holocaust when he served as amission president in Europe in 1946 and visited the ruins of Jewish ghettos and the campsof survivors. “I have been impressed to tears as I visited some of these wanderers, thosepersecuted and driven sons of our Heavenly Father, my brethren Judah. Yes, theprophecies regarding the dispersion and suffering of Judah have been fulfilled.” 63 Thedevastation he felt at what transpired against the Jews at the hands of the Nazi regime is atheme that appears several times in his writing, and clearly affected both his personaldetermination for a Jewish State and his political views that the Jewish people wereaccomplishing miracles in Palestine, both relating to the prophesied gathering, andcausing the desert to “blossom as a rose.”5960616263Benson, “Message to Judah,” 11-12.Dew, Biography, 434.Benson, “Message to Judah,” 2.Benson, “Message to Judah,” 6.Benson, “Message to Judah,” 8.23
Page 2 and 3: AcknowledgementsI am indebted to Pr
Page 4 and 5: Table of ContentsIntroduction - 1Ch
Page 6 and 7: elationship in any depth.In researc
Page 8 and 9: friendships with various Israeli le
Page 10 and 11: Joseph Smith taught that Latter-day
Page 12 and 13: Gentiles, and it will be again inha
Page 14 and 15: for their long suffering. Yet, he,
Page 16 and 17: focus on both the fulfillment of pr
Page 18 and 19: Smith and Brigham Young, as previou
Page 20 and 21: Smith, the members of the group “
Page 22 and 23: Jews.'” 46Benjamin further descri
Page 24 and 25: Chapter 2: Benson's Religious Leade
Page 28 and 29: Benson's sense of kinship for the J
Page 30 and 31: eturn of the Jews to the land of Pa
Page 32 and 33: general mention of his efforts at s
Page 34 and 35: Or perhaps it did not aid in his ap
Page 36 and 37: about Jews and Israel, throughout t
Page 38 and 39: and Peter Grose describe the frustr
Page 40 and 41: Israel's victory in the Six Day War
Page 42 and 43: the Messiah. Indeed, both Benson an
Page 44 and 45: those visits, as opposed to those o
Page 46 and 47: U.S. agricultural products on credi
Page 48 and 49: The American public, though divided
Page 50 and 51: States.” 133Indeed, a Gallup poll
Page 52 and 53: with Britain and France, for their
Page 54 and 55: many Americans that Israel was now,
Page 56 and 57: those experiences to give validity
Page 58 and 59: Benson, “I want you to pray to Go
Page 60 and 61: gathering. Some of those themes inc
Page 62 and 63: Ben Gurion and Levi Eshkol, both of
Page 64 and 65: sending “two Mormon Books,” and
Page 66 and 67: Yet Ben Gurion's next letter, dated
Page 68 and 69: on this occasion with Shimon Peres
Page 70 and 71: cultivate land for crops in the 194
Page 72 and 73: attitude in the Synagogue Light art
Page 74 and 75: United States, his views on Israel
Page 76 and 77:
eminded the host that he had not be
Page 78 and 79:
Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
Page 80 and 81:
"Though Thy servant is now far from
Page 82 and 83:
BibliographyAlteras, Isaac. Eisenho
Page 84 and 85:
Madsen, Truman G. “Mormon Attitud
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