Aftermath of Rabin Slaying

Ten years ago, I flew with my two young sons, ages 8 and 9, to Vienna to visit my parents. Just before landing I took their skullcaps off of their heads and rummaged through my hand luggage to find some knit caps to exchange for a head covering. “Why?” Tzvika asked me. I tried to the best of my ability to explain that we would shortly be landing in an anti-Semitic country and that we could potentially encounter problems, such as staring and vicious criticisms. “But Mommy, we are proud to be Jews and we don’t care if they are mean to us, we’ll answer them back!”

My children were growing up insulated in a strong Jewish community here in America. The sense of pride the second generation developed is based upon the fact that we Jews have the State of Israel. I, in contrast, felt isolated, as a minority surrounded by sharks any moment ready to attack.

Shortly after the mourning period was over for the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Jewish Orthodox children in Israel were harassed on the street, on buses and in public parks for wearing skullcaps. “Assassins!” they shouted. I have tears in my eyes, just thinking of comparing it with my upbringing in Vienna. Do my little cousins in Bnei Brak and in Jerusalem, my friends in Efrat, tuck their skullcaps into their pockets and don their berets? Are we once again intimidated for being religious Jews?

Jews, right-wing, left-wing or no wings, we have to stick together and this tragedy should not tear us apart! This was the state that allowed us the freedom to express it and now we are back to being in a state of fear.

REBECCA NISSEL

Beverly Hills

* On Nov. 5 it was reported, “In September, when the first of 10 retired generals and ranking Israeli figures came to Los Angeles . . . to explain the Israeli government’s position, several synagogues and community groups would not see them.” As one of the organizers of (retired) Maj. Gen. Ori Orr’s visit to Los Angeles, one of a national tour sponsored by Americans for Peace Now, I can tell you that just the opposite was true.

Orr was a very close ally and friend of Rabin. His reception here was extraordinary. We sponsored Gen. Orr’s talks at two of the largest L.A. synagogues, both Conservative congregations, where we knew there was a diversity of opinion--rather than “preaching to the converted.” More than 1,500 congregants heard and applauded a cogent analysis of the peace process by a military figure who could hardly be called a “peacenik.” The Jewish Federation’s Community Relations Committee and the Consulate of Israel also sponsored events and several private meetings were organized. No one ever said to me or any of our local leadership that they didn’t want to have Gen. Orr speak.

Every poll has shown that the overwhelming majority of American Jews support the peace process. Now, support has risen in Israel to more than 70% after the murder of a military man turned peacemaker. After mourning, we must erect a memorial to Rabin--an expanded campaign in support of the peace process, the only real security Israel can achieve.

JERRY FREEDMAN HABUSH

Los Angeles Regional Director Americans for Peace Now

* “A Killer as Complex as Israel” (Nov. 10) got one thing wrong. Yigal Amir’s comrades-in-arms may well have nicknamed him “Natsnets,” but the term, literally translated as “thumbtack” or “pinhead,” does not herald great intellect. In Israeli army parlance, to be a “natsnets” is to be a stickler for orders, not someone given to question authority.

The question for Israel to determine now is, who gave Amir his marching orders?

SHELDON TEITELBAUM

Agoura Hills