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Jewish, Negro Congregations, 2 of City’s Oldest, Hold Joint Service

July 29, 1969
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Two of the oldest congregations in Los Angeles, one Jewish and one Negro, held an interracial, interfaith joint service at the church yesterday. Members of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the city’s oldest and largest Reform synagogue, came to the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, now in its 97th year, for the unique service.

Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin of the Reform congregation was guest speaker. He described some events in support of his topic that “history is a great teacher.” Rev. H. Hartford Brookings, the host clergyman and former president of the United Civil Rights Council here, told his black Christian and white Jewish audience that the services were intended to “bring together people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds at a point of equality.” He said one objective was the hope that “we can minimize the emphasis being placed on anti-Semitism” among Negroes.

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