THE KLAN PLAN

As an American Jewish child of the 1960s, I was prompted by the synagogue bombings in Jackson and Meridian, Miss., to act on my terror and fear (“White Knights, Dark Hearts,” by Jack Nelson, Jan. 10). I sent a $5 donation to the rabbi in Meridian for the synagogue’s rebuilding, along with a request for the rabbi to acquaint me with a pen pal, a boy or girl my age from whom I could learn more about what it meant to be a Jew living in Mississippi. Years later, upon graduation from college, I went to Mississippi, where I was the guest of my pen pal and his family. I saw the Meridian synagogue and got a glimpse of Jewish life there.

I passed the article on to my friends and called their attention to the book from which the excerpts came. Perhaps there will be a new birthday book on my coffee table? If so it will be for my friends, not me. I lived through it, so I’ll pass the book back, as my gift to them.

STUART BARASCH

San Jose