Festive Holiday Meals: "When a meal is eaten for the purpose of honoring a festival or rejoicing in the fulfillment of a commandment, it is considered more than an ordinary meal; it is a se'udah shel mitzvah. Psalm 126, shir ha- ma'alot, is recited before Grace after Meals, and in the Grace itself, there is usually an additional paragraph appropriate to the occasion. Such festive meals include the following: 1) Sabbath and festivals . . . often accompanied by a short sermon of Torah . . . singing of hymns . . . the presence of two loaves of bread (hallot), and the eating of fish or meat . . ." 2) A melavveh malkah, a festive meal held after the departure of the Sabbath, 3) the Passover seder, 4) the Purim dinner, 5) the meal before the fast of the Day of Atonement (se'udah mafseket), 6) the siyyum, a feast made on the completion of the study of a Talmudic tractate. Such a feast is usually held on the morning of the eve of Passover so that the firstborn can participate (and thereby be exempt from fasting on that day), and 7) the banquet of the hevra kaddisha (the burial brotherhood) held on the Seventh of Adar." (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

Festive Family Meals: "Joyous family occasions also have various se'udot shel mitzvah connected with them: 1) the circumcision feast, 2) the meal at the ceremony of the redemption of the firstborn (pidyon ha-ben), 3) the festive meal celebrating a bar mitzvah, 4) the betrothal and wedding feasts, and 5) the occasion of dedicating a new home (se'udat hanukkat ha-bayit)." (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

Monthly Days of Fasting and Prayer: Remember that for the religious Jew there is a fasting day each month. It stands to reason that the meal afterwards is a "feast" of sorts - with prayers. It is the custom among religious Jews to pray before and after every meal. Each prayer is preceded by a washing of hands in "living water" that is naturally flowing. Over time, these and other prayers have come to be pre-written. Yet that was not the biblical custom or instruction.

Fixed or Spontaneous Prayers? "In general, biblical prayer was spontaneous and personal; the more formal aspect of worship probably consisted of bringing sacrifices at set times and with a fixed ritual. It seems, however, that even during the period of the First Temple there were already some prayers whose wording was set and which were always recited on certain specific occasions. Some scholars, basing themselves on Psalms 55:18 and Daniel 6:11, believe that the practice of worshiping at least three times a day may be traced back to the biblical period." (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

Prayer with Real Intent: There is an effort in Judaism to at least say the pre-written prayers with real intent. This is called Kavvanah (direction, intention or concentration). "Because the times of the services and even the words which were to be recited, were fixed, there was a danger that prayer would lose its vitality and become mere routine. In order to overcome this danger, the rabbis urged the worshiper to meditate before he began to worship, to think of ‘before Whom he was standing’ in prayer, and to create a new prayer every time he worshiped. They placed great emphasis on the emotional aspect of prayer, calling it ‘service of the heart’ and stressing that God appreciates most the pure intentions of the worshiper. Later authorities sought to embellish the fixed prayers with original poems (piyyutim,) or with short introductions (kavvanot) whose purpose was to direct the heart and mind of the worshiper. Melodic chanting was used as a means of increasing kavvanah and worshipers were taught to sway as they prayed, thus throwing their entire body into the worship."

Personal Prayer Replaced with Memorized Prayers: "Books containing the texts of the customary daily and festival prayers did not exist in ancient times. The reader would pray aloud and the congregants would chant the words along with him, or they would simply say ‘amen’ to the blessings. Only after the completion of the Talmud, when many of the components of the Oral Tradition were first compiled in written form, were the prayers written down. Thus, the very first ‘prayer book’ was produced only in the ninth century." (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

Nephi Speaks to the Jews as a Jew and Includes the Gentiles "I have charity for the Jew--I say Jew, because I mean them from whence I came. I also have charity for the Gentiles. But behold, for none of these can I hope except they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate, and walk in the strait path which leads to life, and continue in the path until the end of the day of probation." (2 Nephi 33:8-9)

Tolerance and Acceptance: I remember when Rabbi Wagner, who was chairman of a Denver Inter Faith committee, was telling me that, after associating with Mormons, he wanted the Mormons to be part of that committee. Rabbi Wagner’s personal friend, a Pastor and an associate member of that committee objected strenuously to Mormons being included. He even threatened to leave the Inter Faith Committee and challenged the friendship. The Rabbi told me, "I have seen and heard this kind of thing before." Mormons were included and the Pastor resigned; however, the friendship continued. It takes two to make or break a friendship. The Book of Mormon Prophet, Nephi, prays for acceptance or, at least, respect for his and the Lords words, wherever they come from.