Source: Los Angeles Times

On September 10, 1999, the Los Angeles Times published an article on how some rabbis in California are planning to deal with the recent acts of violence against Jews when they address their congregations for the High Holy Days. Many synagogues will tighten security in order to make people feel more comfortable. Rabbi Neal Weinberg of Temple Judea in Laguna Hills, CA had begun to write a sermon addressing ant-Semitism, but decided to change it: "People are coming to synagogue because they're in pain in their own lives...They need...

Source: The Tampa Tribune

On September 10, 1999, The Tampa Tribune reported that Jews are offended at the Southern Baptist Convention's plan to pray for Jews to convert to Christianity during the High Holy Days. David Freidman, the congregation president at Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem, NC, stated: "To do this at this time of year is a little bit startling...I find it rather sad that they place their emphasis on converting Jews, rather than looking for common ground and discourse among all faiths." The Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission...

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On September 10, 1999, the Chicago Sun-Times published an article on the efforts of the Chicago-area Jewish community to accommodate young Jewish adults. Kehilla, which means "community" in Hebrew, is an outreach program begun six years ago that allows members under the age of 30 to sample services at five temples, ranging from Reform to Orthodox, and use the Florence G. Heller Jewish Community Center. Of the 250,000 people who comprise the Chicago-area Jewish community, approximately 15,000 are post-college Jews. Jay Tcath,...

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On September 6, 1999, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an article about a teenage girl, Sarah Reiter of Olivette, Missouri, who blows the shofar to begin Rosh Hashanah at Temple Israel in Creve Coeur, MO. The shofar is a Jewish ceremonial instrument fashioned from the horn of an animal, usually a ram, but sometimes a sheep, goat, mountain goat, antelope, or gazelle. At Orthodox and Conservative synagogues, the job of blowing the shofar is given to an honored male, but the Reform synagogue of Temple Israel has a tradition...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On September 6, 1999, the Los Angeles Times published an article about the resurgence of the mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath used for "spiritual purification and renewal." Four synagogues in Orange County, California are planning to construct mikvahs, which will alleviate travel burdens for those residents who had to travel to Los Angeles County to find a mikvah. Mikvahs are used by all branches of Judaism and are used for purification before marriage, conversion, and High Holy Days and after a married woman's menstrual cycle....

Source: The Seattle Times

On September 4, 1999, The Seattle Times published an article on "Jews by choice," a term most rabbis use to refer to those who have converted to Judaism. In its last survey of Jews in 1990, the Council of Jewish Federations found that 200,000 of America's Jews were converts. Though most Jews convert to Judaism through intermarriage, some Jews have converted because the "ancient rituals speak to a spiritual hunger they say always nagged at them." Rabbi David Rose of Herzl-ner Tamid Conservative Congregation on Mercer Island,...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On September 4, 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported that Jews across the world will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, beginning September 10th. Rosh Hashanah begins a 10-day holiday season that ends with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Rabbi Lawrence Goldmark, acting director of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, spoke about the 10-day celebration: "The Jewish philosophy is to start the new year off by making amends with our fellow human beings and God, and the rest of the year you're in with a clean slate...

Source: The Plain Dealer

On September 4, 1999, The Plain Dealer published an article on the role of prayer for American Jews. Since only about 11 percent of the nation's nearly 6 million Jews attend weekly Shabbat services (according to the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey), most American Jews are unused to regular worship and the practice of traditional prayer. Since the 1990 survey also found that 60 percent of the Jewish community attends High Holy Day services, many rabbis run beginner services so that the attending Jews may learn how to pray the...

Source: The Kansas City Star

On September 4, 1999, The Kansas City Star published an article on the High Holy Days as a time to reflect upon the recent acts of violence against the Jews in the United States. Joseph Schultz, former director of the Center for Religious Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas, told of a prayer on the High Holy Days which reminds Jews that, "it is only when a united humanity feels it is responsible for one another and seeks to elevate one another that we truly realize the sovereignty of God in the world." Marvin Szneler,...

Source: The Jerusalem Post

On September 2, 1999, The Jerusalem Post reported that Gideon Busch, a 31-year-old Hasidic man who lived in Borough Park, Brooklyn and was known to be mentally ill, was shot 12 times and killed by four police officers on Monday, August 30th after Busch attacked the officers with a hammer and refused to be subdued with pepper spray. When New York City officials were quick to defend the actions of the police in this situation, "other ethnic groups intimated that police were more concerned about having shot a Jew than they had been...

Source: New York Daily News

On September 1, 1999, the Daily News of New York published an article on the shooting of Gideon Busch. After a meeting with Mayor Rudolph Guiliani and Commissioner Safir, several Orthodox Jewish leaders, including Noach Dear, held a news conference in support of the Police Department. "The Police Department did what they had to do," Dear said. Safir also defended his officers: "This isn't the movies. You don't shoot hammers out of hands. You don't shoot people in the leg. If you use your weapon in exerting deadly physical force...

Source: The Denver Post

On August 30, 1999, The Denver Post published an article on the new Boulder Jewish Community Center in Boulder, Colorado. The 17,000 square-foot facility provides meeting space for many local Jewish organizations and has begun to act as a center of Jewish life in Boulder. Ellen Brown, a board member of the Boulder Jewish Community Foundation, stated: "All the Jewish organizations in Boulder have gotten together and we're going to have one building where everyone can be together, the preschools and the grandparents and the singles and...

Source: The Buffalo News

On August 29, 1999, The Buffalo News reported that Jews for Jesus plans to build a $10 million theme park called The Holy Land Experience on 15 acres near the Walt Disney World park in Orlando, FL. The park "will recreate the land of Israel shortly after Jesus' death with replicas of the Herodian Temple and the limestone caves of Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found." Groundbreaking is scheduled for next month and the park plans to open in the Autumn of 2000.

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On August 14, 1999, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Buford O. Furrow Jr., the man accused of wounding five people at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, California on August 10th, had plans to attack other Los Angeles area Jewish centers. Police found a map in Furrow's "ammunition-filled van that indicated he had scouted the Museum of Tolerance, the Skirball Cultural Center and the University of Judaism." An hour after the attack, Furrow shot and killed a postal worker because he was a non...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On August 13, 1999, The Houston Chronicle published an editorial opinion by Donna Ostrower, executive director of the Houston Chapter of the American Jewish Committee. Ostrower writes about hate groups such as Christian Identity and World Church of the Creator, with whom Buford Furrow, Timothy McVeigh, and Benjamin Smith had connections. With about 90 ministries in 34 states, Christian Identity is able to promulgate its racist theological message.According to Ostrower, Christian Identity "distorts Genesis to preach that people...