Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On December 8, 1999, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, stated that Southern Baptists "have crossed the line of responsible witness" in calling for 100,000 Baptists to come to Chicago seeking converts next summer. Eckstein stated: "I have broken with the Southern Baptist leadership, and I would urge all Jewish institutions to do likewise...I want to make it clear that it doesn't mean Jewish institutions should break with every...

Source: The Detroit News

On December 8, 1999, The Detroit News published an article entitled, "Seniors, Kids Have a Ball Celebrating Hanukkah: Jewish Generations Mix to Bake, Sing, Dance During Event."

Source: The Boston Herald

On December 6, 1999, The Boston Herald published on article on Jewish teens who are rejecting the practice of receiving gifts during Hanukkah. Laura Robbins, a teen from Newton, Massachusetts, stated: "I asked my parents a few years ago not to get me presents...Yeah, it sounds weird, but I wanted to let them know that giving gifts isn't what the holiday is all about." Ariela Housman, a 14-year-old from Brookline, MA, has also asked her parents not to get her any Hanukkah gifts: "Hanukkah is about miracles; more specifically, it's...

Source: The New York Times

On December 4, 1999, The New York Times published an article on the recent tensions between the SBC and many Jewish organizations around the country. The proposal to send 100,000 Baptists to the Chicago area next summer for the purpose of seeking converts prompted Yechiel Eckstein, a prominent Chicago rabbi involved in interfaith relations between Christians and Jews, to state that the SBC has "clearly crossed the line, from general evangelizing and witnessing - which I strongly affirm - and breached the trust by proselytizing...

Source: The Denver Rocky Mountain News

On December 3, 1999, the Denver Rocky Mountain News published an article on the hands-on demonstrations that Rabbi Yisroel Engel conducts in order to educate Jewish children about Jewish holidays. Rabbi Engel, who teaches under the auspices of Chabad House, was recently at the Denver Academy of Torah. In his demonstration, Rabbi Engel brought a wine press, a centrifuge, and a half-pound of olives to squeeze the oil out of the olives, separate the dross in a centrifuge, and then light the oil in a menorah. Engel then...

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On December 3, 1999, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an article on Hanukkah in St. Louis. Judy Zafft of Frontenac, Missouri remembers what celebrating Hanukkah in St. Louis was like back in the 1950s, when few non-Jews noticed Hanukkah and even buying a Hanukkah card was difficult. In school, Zafft used to sing Christmas carols: "I didn't think much about singing Christmas carols, I don't remember my Jewish parents saying anything about it...We even sang 'Jesus Loves Me.' That's the way things were then." Zafft finds...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On December 3, 1999, The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the events happening in the San Francisco Area to celebrate Hanukkah. A 22-foot menorah in Union Square will be lit for up to four hours each day, with a rock concert to be held in Union Square on Sunday, December 5th. Rabbi Yosef Langer, an Orthodox rabbi, invited the rock musicians and will lead a drum circle, where members of the crowd will be asked to participate. Langer, once dubbed the 'Rock 'n' Roll Rabbi' for his affinity for the Grateful Dead, stated...

Source: The New York Times

On November 20, 1999, The New York Times reported that the Rev. Paige Patterson of the SBC may have a joint meeting with representatives of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York on the issue of messianic Jewish groups. Letters have gone back and forth between the two organizations since the SBC published a prayer guide at the time of the High Holy Days to convert Jews to Christianity. Though the format of the meeting has yet to be determined, it is most likely that a one-to-one discussion will take place between...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On November 20, 1999, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Bishop Peter Rogness, head of the Greater Milwaukee Synod for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, issued a statement in reaction to Catholic Archbishop Rempert Weakland's public apology for centuries of anti-Semitic words and actions by the Catholic Church. Rogness stated: "For the leader of the largest faith community in the area to make such a speech was profound...His words struck close to home. The second-largest faith community in the...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On November 18, 1999, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution published an article on the 68th General Assembly, which is an annual gathering of Jews from all branches of Judaism. This year, 4,000 Jews will gather in Atlanta, with the underlying theme of many of the workshops and seminars focusing on what it means to be a Jew today. Jonathan Woocher, executive vice president of the Jewish Education Service of North America, stated: "The single most important thing about Jewish identity today, if you look across the...

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On November 12, 1999, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Milwaukee's Roman Catholic Archbishop, Rempert Weakland, admitted to centuries of Catholic prejudice against Jews in an interfaith Catholic-Jewish service at Congregation Shalom in Milwaukee on Sunday, November 7th. Weakland stated: "I acknowledge that we Catholics, by preaching a doctrine that the Jewish people were unfaithful, hypocritical, and God-killers, reduced the human dignity of our Jewish brothers and sisters, and created attitudes that made reprisals against them...

Source: The New York Times

On November 9, 1999, The New York Times reported that Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jewish leaders, the heads of the four major Jewish theological seminaries, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, sent a letter to the Southern Baptist Convention president, Rev. Paige Patterson, asking the SBC to stop supporting "deceptive" tactics to convert Jews. The letter denounced the SBC's endorsement of messianic Jewish organizations: "Our quarrel with the Southern Baptist Convention is not over its right to proselytize....

Source: Los Angeles Times

On November 6, 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported that the National Jewish Outreach Program is sponsoring a Hebrew literacy course entitled, "Read Hebrew America/Canada." More than 1,400 Hebrew classes in over 1,000 locations will be offered across North America for the month of November to combat Hebrew illiteracy. Organizers say that only 20% of American Jews speak Hebrew. Approximately 20,000 Jews are expected to participate this year, up from the 15,000 who participated last year. To find out more about the program, visit...

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On November 5, 1999, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Donald Ray O'Quinn, an Irish-American Pentecostal physics teacher, was chosen to become head administrator of Dallas' only Jewish high school, Yavneh Academy, in March 1999. O'Quinn was chosen for his credentials and for his reputation as an inspiring teacher. Rabbi Michael Cytrin helps O'Quinn to run the Academy and oversees Yavneh's classes in Jewish faith, history, and law. Cytrin stated: "I can lead him [O'Quinn] through the labyrinth of the Jewish world...

Source: The Times-Picayune

On October 30, 1999, The Times-Picayune reported that Tulane University is beginning to provide kosher meals to Jewish students who want to live by Jewish dietary laws. Sodexho Marriott, the food service contractor for Tulane and the nation's largest provider of contract food service on college campuses, began offering the meals for the first time because it had recently taken over food service for Woldenberg Village, a Jewish retirement center in Algiers, LA. Woldenberg had kept a kosher kitchen for years without official...