Skip to main content
Religious Education
Council for Interfaith Engagement

2019 Jewish Latter-day Saint Dialogue

6th Dialogue Series

June 4-6, 2019 - Jerusalem

Tuesday, June 4

Joint Cultural Understanding

8:30 am          Can Israel & the Palestinian Authority Make Peace? with Khaled Abu Toameh, former Arab affairs correspondent, Jerusalem Post

11:30 am         Tour of Save a Child’s Heart  (SACH)/Wolfson Medical Center, Holon and visit to SACH Children’s Home

IMG_4042.JPG
June 4, 2019, Save A Child's Heart, Holon, Israel - Dustin Gardner and Barbara Morgan Gardner with SACH participants. Photo by Kristi Garroway.

Academic Dialogue

2:00 pm            Academic Dialogue Session I: Joint Scripture study of torah passage at Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan - hosted by Shabtai Rappaport

Wednesday, June 5

Joint Cultural Understanding

8:00 am            Tour of City of David excavations led by Kristi Garroway

IMG_4353.JPG
June 5, 2020, City of David, Jerusalem - Left to right - Bottom level: Kristi Garroway, Quin Monson; 2nd level - Jacob Rennaker, Anna Rennaker, Sam Spector, Dustin Gardner; 3rd level - Steven Windmueller, Jared Ludlow, Margaret Ludlow, Wendy Top, Brent Top, Josh Matson; 4th level - Andy Reed, Mark Diamond; Photo by Josh Garroway.

11:00 am         Guided tour of Yad Vashem and interfaith commemoration

Jewish-LDS Memorial Service.Jewish-LDS Interfaith Dialogue.June 2019.Mark Diamond & Shon.jpg
June 5, 2019, Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum,Hall of Remembrance; Interfaith ceremony honoring holocaust victims; Left, Mark Diamond; Right, Shon Hopkin; in foreground - flowers provided by Jewish & Latter-day Saint Academic Interfaith Dialogue

Academic Dialogue

3:00                   Academic Dialogue session II at BYU Jerusalem Center 

  • Topic:  Anti-Semitism
  • Presenter:  Steven Windmueller, HUC-JIR
  • Response:  Quin Monson, BYU

VIP dinner at Maiersdorf Faculty Club, Hebrew University with Elder Quentin L. Cook, Sister Mary Cook, Rabbi Michael Melchior, dialogue participants and invited guests

keynote dinner.Jewish-LDS interfaith diaogue.June 2019..jpg
June 5, 2019 Keynote Dinner, Maiersdorf Faculty Club; Mark Diamond speaking
Rabbi Melchior.Elder Cook.keynote dinner.Jewish-LDS interfaith diaogue.June 2019..jpg
June 5, 2019 Keynote dinner, Maiersdorf Faculty Club; Left to right: Rabbi Michael Melchior, Elder Quentin L. Cook, Sister Mary Cook; also pictured, left to right: Elder Richard Holzapfel, Jacob Rennaker, Jennifer Hopkin
keynote dinner.Jewish-LDS interfaith diaogue.June 2019. (2).jpg
June 5, 2019 - Keynote Dinner, Maiersdorf Faculty Club; Left to right: Standing - Jennifer Hopkin, Dustin Gardner, Holli Levitsky, Brent Top, Rachel Lieberman, Wendy Top, Kristine Garroway, Ophir Yarden, Joshua Garroway, Sam Spector, Quin Monson, Jared Ludlow, Margaret Ludlow, Andrew Reed, Steven Windmueller, Jacob Rennaker, Joshua Matson, Anna Rennaker, Spencer John Olson; Seated - Shon Hopkin, Mark Diamond, Rabbi Michael Melchior, Elder Quentin Cook, Sister Mary Cook, Richard Holzapfel, Cameron Scott

Public Events

7:00 pm            Conference keynote program at BYU Jerusalem Center with Elder Cook and Rabbi Melchior

Elder Cook.Jim Kearl.Rabbi Melchior.Shon.keynote event.Jewish-LDS interfaith diaogue.June 2019..jpg
June 5, 2019, BYU Jerusalem Center, Keynote Event; Left to right: Jim Kearl, Shon Hopkin, Elder Quentin L. Cook (speaking), Rabbi Michael Melchior
Jim Kearl.Shon.Rabbi Diamond.Rabbi Melchior.Elder & Sister Cook.keynote event.Jewish-LDS interfaith diaogue.June 2019..jpg
June 5, 2019 - BYU Jerusalem Center, Keynote Event, Left to right: Jim Kearl, Shon Hopkin, Mark Diamond (speaking, Rabbi Michael Melchior, Elder Quentin L. Cook, so
Rabbi Melchior.Elder & Sister Cook.keynote event.Jewish-LDS interfaith diaogue.June 2019..jpeg
June 5, 2019 Keynote Event, BYU Jerusalem Center; Left to right: Mark Diamond, Rabbi Michael Melchior (speaking), fMark Diamond (speaking), , Elder Quentin Cook, Mary Cook
Michael Melchior.Elder & Sis Cook.keynote event.Jewish-LDS interfaith diaogue.June 2019..jpeg
June 5, 2019, BYU Jerusalem Center, Keynote Event - Rabbi Michael Melchior, Elder Quentin Cook, Sister Mary Cook

9:00                    Gala reception at BYU Jerusalem Center

Rabbi Melchior w students.keynote reception.Jewish-LDS dialogue.June 2019.jpeg
June 5, 2019, BYU Jerusalem Center, Reception - Rabbi Michael Melchior speaking with BYU students
Elder Cook & Rabbi Sam Spector.keynote dinner.Jewish-LDS interfaith diaogue.June 2019..jpg
June 5, 2019, BYU Jerusalem Center, Reception - Rabbi Sam Spector (Salt Lake City) visits with Elder Quentin Cook (Quorum of the Twelve)

Thursday, June 6

Joint Cultural Understanding

9:00 am            Shalom Hartman Institute (SHI) - Welcome and introduction to hevruta study with Rabbi/Prof. Leon Weiner Dow, SHI

9:30  am           Hevruta study

Academic Dialogue

10:15 am         Academic Dialogue Session III/Shiur, The Holy Land and Ethics with Leon Weiner Dow, research fellow and faculty member, SHI 

11:15 am         Academic Dialogue Session IV/Lecture, Responses to the Moral Challenges of Zionism Today with Yossi Klein Halevi, author and senior fellow, SHI

2:00 pm            Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem [HUC] with Rabbi Naamah Kelman, Dean, HUC-JIR Jerusalem campus

2:15                    Academic Dialogue Session V at HUC with Prof. Dalia Marx, Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Liturgy and Midrash, HUC

IMG_4055.JPG
June 6, 2019, Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem; Dialogue Session about Jerusalem; Clockwise: Joshua Garroway, Steven Windmueller, Quin Monson, Professor Dalia Marx, Barbara Morgan Gardner, Andrew Skinner, Jared Ludlow, Ophir Yarden, Andrew Reed, Spencer John Olson; Photo by Kristi Garroway

Joint Cultural Understanding

4:00 pm            Brief tour of HUC Jerusalem campus and biblical archeology museum, led by Kristine Garroway

6:00 pm            Closing dinner - Olive and Fish Restaurant

Closing dinner.Jewish-LDS Interfaith dialogue.Mark Diamond.Margaret & Jared Ludlow.Jen.Quin Monson.June 2019.jpg
June 6, 2019, Olive & Fish Restaurant - closing dinner; Clockwise - Mark Diamond, Margaret Ludlow, Jared Ludlow, Jennifer Hopkin, Quin Monson; Photo by Shon Hopkin
IMG_4079.JPG
June 6, 2019, Olive & Fish Restaurant, Jerusalem - Mark Diamond, closing remarks

November (AJR-CA and LMU) & December (BYU) 2019 Joint Campus Visits

In November and December 2019, we began a new initiative in our Academic Interfaith Dialogue project, hosting members of the team at each other's university as guest lecturers.

  • November 14th (noon) at the Academy of Jewish Religion-California - Andrew Reed and Shon Hopkin gave a lunch lecture, followed by Q&A, to rabbinical students at AJR-CA on the subject of how Latter-day Saint beliefs and teachings build on the foundations of the Hebrew Bible.
  • November 14th (evening) at Loyola Marymount University - Andrew Reed, Shon Hopkin, and Steven Windmueller participated in a Q&A Panel in Mark Diamond's LMU class (Strategies of Successful Interfaith Engagement) on the subject of the Jewish & Latter-day Saint Academic Interfaith Dialogue project.
Nov 19, 2019 LMU - Diamond Interfaith Class
Nov. 19, 2019 - Q&A Panel in Mark Diamond's "Strategies of Interfaith Engagement" class - Loyola Marymount University; Left to right: Steven Windmueller, Andrew Reed, Shon Hopkin

  • December 3 (daytime) at Brigham Young University - Steven Windmueller taught about political trends in American Jewry as a guest lecturer in Quin Monson's Political Science class. Mark Diamond taught about Judaism and the Jewish & Latter-day Saint Academic Interfaith Dialogue project in Andrew Reed's World Religions class.
  • December 3 (evening) at Brigham Young University - Steven Windmueller and Mark Diamond taught about Isaiah 56 - 58 in Shon Hopkin's Writings of Isaiah class.