At a Glance: Latter-day Saint and Jewish Delegation Gathers at Historic Jerusalem Site

A delegation of Latter-day Saint leaders and Jewish dignitaries from the United States gathered at a historic site in Jerusalem to mark the 175th anniversary of an early Latter-day Saint apostle’s journey to Jerusalem. On October 24, 1841, Elder Orson Hyde climbed the Mount of Olives under the direction of Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to offer a prayer to dedicate the land as a gathering place for the Jewish people.

Elder Holland and Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder James J. Hamula of the Seventy traveled to the Holy Land with a group of distinguished Jewish leaders.

The delegation included former New York Attorney General Robert Abrams; former U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman from Connecticut; Rabbi Michael Miller, executive vice president and CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York; Marlene Post, former U.S. national president of Hadassah; Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis; and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City and director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought of Yeshiva University.