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The Book
of Mormon Prophesies that in the latter-days, “Jews” would be “gathered home to the
lands of their inheritance,
and … be established in all their lands of promise.”
(2 Nephi 9:2)
There is
actually more than one Jewish Promised Land, according to the Book of
Mormon. LDS scripture indicates that the American land of Lehi’s
inheritance was and would be a Jewish land of promise too. See
2 Nephi 1:9;
9:2;
10:7-14,
19;
30:4,
7-8;
33:8,
Ether 13:21,
Doctrine and Covenants 19:27;
57:4.
Today,
many Mormons (LDS, Community of Christ etc.) cannot say for sure just where
the Book of Mormon’s Promised Land (Lehi’s covenant “land of liberty”,
2 Nephi 1:5-7) is,
except to say "somewhere in the Americas". But if we really are living in “the latter-days”, and if
Jews (the most recognizable of all Israelites) truly are gathering in mass
to either of two lands, can’t demographic studies tell us something about
the identity of these lands?
The
Jewish people have the highest migration rate of any major religious group
in modern times. “Jews are abandoning Third World countries where
historically they have been persecuted and moving to large and generally
free First World countries”, states Jonathan Sarna, American Jewish History
professor at Massachusetts’,
Brandeis University. “The world Jewish community
is consolidating” says Sarna. “Of the 13.3 million Jews worldwide, 43
percent live in Israel
and 39 percent live in the
United States.”[1]
In other
words, 82 percent of all Jews have gathered to either the covenant land of “Yisra’El”
(ישראל)
or to what Israelis fittingly call “Artsot ha-Brit” (הברית
ארצות), “Lands of the Covenant”, a.k.a. the United States.
"Jews
have been part of the European settlement of what became the United States
from the 1650s, notably in the city of New Amsterdam, which was later known
as New York."[2]
New York State (authentic
Book of Mormon country) has one of
the highest concentrations of Jewish citizens of any state in the Union.[2]
References:
[1]
“World’s Jews migrate the most,
study shows”, Lauren Markoe, Salt Lake Tribune, Saturday, March 10,
2012, Faith, C3.
Special thanks to Sister
Linda Thomas
(truly a
“the Lord maketh no
such thing known” Latter-day Saint,
1 Nephi 15:9)
who brought the S.L. Tribune article, and its plain implications to my
attention.
[2]
Dr. Ian Barnes, Joseph Bacon,
The Historical Atlas of Judaism, 2010, pp. 252, 249
Vincent Coon
כּוּן
וִינְסֶנט
© Copyright 2012
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