L.A.’s Jews Fear for Relatives in Israel

Waves of shock, outrage and fear swept over Jews in Southern California within minutes of Monday’s suicide bombing in Israel.

As local Jewish leaders at a hastily called rally demanded swift action by the Israeli government and Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority to bring the terrorists to justice, the bombings took a wrenching emotional toll on families with relatives in Israel.

“It’s getting to the point where I’m afraid to wake up in the morning, turn on the radio or listen to the news,” said Reena Adlerstein, whose 19-year-old daughter lives in Israel.

Rabbi Harvey J. Fields of Wilshire Boulevard Temple has a married daughter who works within blocks of where the explosion occurred Monday in Tel Aviv.

“It’s awfully scary,” said Fields. “I talked [by telephone] with them this morning. They’re shaken and devastated and incredibly sad and feeling a sense of calamity.” “

Throughout the Jewish community, rabbis consoled congregants; hundreds of young yeshiva students prayed for the dead; synagogues made last-minute changes in what were supposed to be gala celebrations of the Jewish holiday Purim.

Temple Beth Torah in Ventura is planning to add special prayers for peace at its Sabbath service on Friday. “All of us, Jews and non-Jews, ought to band together in one universal expression of revulsion and condemnation of those who perpetrate this kind of violence on innocent men, women and children,” Rabbi Michael Berk said.

Several rabbis said they sympathized with people torn over what to do about their children in Israel. As parents, they want to bring the children home. As Jews, they don’t want to accede to terrorists.

“I’ve had parents whose children are studying in Israel call me asking if it’s fair to tell their children that they shouldn’t travel on buses,” said Rabbi Abner Weiss, president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis, who has children living in Israel. “Some of them are wondering whether they should bring their children home.”

The irony of the bombing during Purim was not lost. According to the Book of Esther in Hebrew Scriptures, it was at Purim that Jews triumphed over an attempt by Haman, a Persian prime minister, to exterminate them. Usually Purim is celebrated festively. But the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the Southern California Board of Rabbis urged that observances be muted.

At the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance at noon Monday, more than 350 people crammed into an auditorium to protest the attacks. Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called for Muslim religious leaders to decry suicide bombings.

“The people of Israel have had enough,” Hier said. “The time has now come to take the war to the terrorists.”

Mayor Richard Riordan, wearing a black skull cap, addressed the Wiesenthal rally. “Even though we are sick with horror and disgust, we must stay with our ideals,” he said. “We must turn our anger into positive action by saying that peace will prevail.”

The peace process has always been controversial among Jews in Southern California. “A halt has to be called [to the peace process] for now, and the Palestinian Authority has to show a real willingness not only to apprehend people are . . . guilty . . . but punish them severely,” said Weiss.

Times staff writer Mary Moore contributed to this report.