May 19, 1999
Source: The Jerusalem Post
On May 19, 1999, The Jerusalem Post reported that Los Angeles' University of Judaism graduated the first group of Conservative rabbis to be ordained outside of New York. Four men and four women made up the graduating class of the four-year-old Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism, which is affiliated with the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Originally, Jewish Theological Seminary opposed the idea of a second rabbinical school, but now tempers have "cooled down and officials at both schools, though still competitive, expressed high esteem for each other."