Israel’s Top Rabbis Don’t Want Mormon Center in Jerusalem
Israel’s two chief rabbis today called on the government to stop the Mormon church from building an education center in Jerusalem, saying it would lead to missionary activity and be “a terrible wound upon the soul of the Jewish nation.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a study center near Jerusalem since 1968 and recently started a $15-million extension campus of Brigham Young University on Mt. Scopus, overlooking the ancient walled city.
The complex has been the focus of sharp controversy between religious Jews led by Chief Rabbis Avraham Shapira and Mordechai Eliyahu, who fear it will be a center for proselytizing, and city officials who say Jerusalem should welcome institutions from all religions.
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