Explaining Mormonism With Judaism

This week I received the following question from a Jewish teacher who is seeking a greater understanding of the LDS faith: which Jewish movement most closely approximates the Mormon view of obedience to God’s law? In framing my answer, I will avail myself of Professor (and Conservative rabbi) Elliot Dorff’s helpful analysis of the Jewish movements’ views of halacha (religious law). For Orthodox Jews, Jewish law is both binding and fixed. Conservative Jews believe that it is binding but not fixed. The Reform movement believes that each Jew determines for himself how to make Judaism relevant to his life, while Reconstructionist Jews believe that the entire Jewish tradition was created by human beings and can therefore be modified to meet contemporary needs. While there is no LDS counterpart to Judaism’s set of 613 commandments, I believe that the Conservative view of halacha is most consonant with LDS religious practice.