When Jewish Family Services opened its doors just three blocks from her home in Northeast Philadelphia, Bertha Rabinowitch marched right in and offered to volunteer. Every Wednesday she'd help out those in need with their income-tax returns. Now, more than 35 years since that day - she couldn't remember exactly how long - Rabinowitch is still volunteering for the organization,...

Fourteen simple lines - written 40 years ago as part of a larger document, all rendered in Latin - attempted to change the nearly 2,000-year-old strained relationship between Catholics and Jews. The anniversary of the adoption of that Catholic document, known as "Nostra Aetate," on Oct. 25, 1965 - the last approved text before the closing of the landmark Second...