Cold Steel,
I am not offended by LDS beliefs. I find proselytizing repulsive.
I am not offended by Christianity. I'm Judean, of the House of David. Along with others Jews, such as those who composed and signed the Orthodox Rabbinic Statement on Christianity in 2015 (and like Maimonides) I don't view Christianity as a sham.
What Jews find repulsive from any group is proselytizing, the claim that a person requires a change to another religious view and practice, often at the expense of giving up their cultural practices (dress, worship, holy days, etc.) or the demand that they adopt new ones.
Proselytizing has been halted in Catholicism and most mainstream Protestantism and labeled as anti-Semitic. Why? Because in the past when these religions engaged in the proselytizing of Jews it demanded that they change their habit of dress, grooming, diet, exchange or stop the observance of holy days for others, etc. Basically it is how one culture destroys another in the name of religion. These groups learned after the Holocaust that proselytizing anyone, Jewish or otherwise (including atheist) is more about changing religious views. It is about destroying culture.
At the core of proselytizing is the conviction there is something faulty about another's convictions. It sets the proselytizer up as jury and judge of another. And it usually belies their claim to having the sufficient knowledge to make these judgments, such as yours:
...the Jews had not had a prophet for 400 years and were again in a state of apostasy...
We had no prophets in the first century C.E. because the era of the prophets had ended. Jews have a far different view of what a prophet is from what LDS members do. The Jewish prophets were not necessarily receiving direct revelations from God as much as they were of such moral standard that they felt moved to speak against the injustices of the time. The ability to foresee events and directly speak with God may not have occurred with any of them. Gentiles mistakenly see this in our prophets of the "Old Testament," but such an interpretation is like attributing magic traits to our sages.
As a way of comparison, the end of the rabbinical era is now upon Judaism. The majority of Jews growing up and others (like myself) belong to the Post-denominational/post-rabbinical movement, sometimes referred to as "just Jewish." Just because the rabbi is no longer being seen as the guide to the spiritual lives of Jews doesn't mean we are being punished by God. Times are changing. Jews now have at their fingertips through technology the means to research anything about their religion to make decisions about their life. The rabbi (as a religious leader) is going out of style, much as the need for the Prophets.
There is no evidence that we were then in the Second Temple era "in a state of apostasy," as you put it. Some point to the Temple's destruction as "proof" of this. This is illogical. This is like saying the horrors of the Holocaust, the persecution of the Spanish Inquisition, and the 1492 Alhambra Decree that demanded that Jews leave Portugal and Spain were sent from God because we Jews were "in a state of apostasy."
But unfortunately, you believe we Jews were in a state of apostasy. You believe that we were not being obedient of God. And is that aspect, that core or basis of proselytism that is repulsive. As Pope Francis himself has been stating through his papacy, proselytism is an illicit act.
Jews should not be offended because of our beliefs because what's the harm in it?
The harm in it? Maybe you might need to learn about the Alhambra Decree and the history of my family as we were hunted down by Christians who believed like you. For generations were were persecuted. My language, Ladino, is now rare because proselytism developed into the hatred that spawned the Holocaust. Almost 100% of Ladino-speaking Jews were slaughtered as a result of the fact that we wouldn't change over to Christian beliefs. You might not cause harm, but indirectly others who see your example still do.
