Local Jews, Muslims Express Outrage

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

The largest Muslim group in the San Fernando Valley expressed “sadness and anger” over the terror bomb attacks, proposing to a Jewish rabbi that an interfaith memorial service for the victims be held at Cal State Northridge on Thursday.

And yet, illustrating some lingering tensions in the otherwise cordial relations between Jews and Muslims in Southern California, Rabbi Jerrold Goldstein wishes his friend Ahmed El-Gabalawy would say more.

“I wish he would flat-out condemn the Hamas [whom Israeli authorities say have claimed responsibility for the bombings] as distorting the essential message of Islam,” Goldstein said.

“Hamas is not representing Islam; they are representing themselves,” replied El-Gabalawy, speaking for the Islamic Center of Northridge.

“We are against the violence, no matter who did it,” he said, citing the Islamic prohibition against killing.

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

The Valley memorial service is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Thursday at the CSUN student union with Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Protestant and Mormon speakers participating.

Both El-Gabalawy and Goldstein have positions at CSUN. Goldstein is rabbi of the Hillel Jewish Student Center. El-Gabalawy is president of the university’s interfaith council, which also includes Catholic, Protestant and Mormon representatives.

Goldstein said that El-Gabalawy offered the idea of a memorial service on campus.

“I respect Ahmed’s integrity and readiness to appear in a public memorial,” said the rabbi. “I know he condemns the murder of civilians, and it’s important that he says that to his fellow Muslims.”

But, Goldstein added, “When there are extremist Jews--assassins and murderers--I am quick to condemn them and say they do not represent the spirit of Judaism.” Without strong public condemnations of terrorism from within the Muslim community, “it is hard to know how the Islamic mainstream views these horrible acts,” he said.

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.

Jack Mayer, executive director of the West Hills-based Valley Alliance, said that the regional arm of the Jewish Federation Council was planning to encourage Jews--whether synagogue members or not--to attend Sabbath services Friday night or Saturday morning “to show solidarity with the people of Israel.”

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. However, Purim is usually observed as a celebration, with worshipers playfully booing and making a racket when the name of Haman is read in the story.

But the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the Southern California Board of Rabbis urged that observances Monday night be muted, emphasizing the attempted genocide rather than the victory.

Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Encino’s Valley Beth Shalom said, however, that he would not inhibit the traditionally joyful service. “We are not going to give victory to those who would destroy peace,” said Schulweis.

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 the traditional Jewish black yarmulke, 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.”

However, Rabbi Abner Weiss, president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis, said that “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 [the] . . . guilty . . . but punish them severely.”

But Stanley K. Sheinbaum, a Democratic political activist and a board member of the American Jewish Congress, said the peace negotiations must proceed.

“It’s not the peace process that is failing, it’s just that people have extravagant expectations that the peace process will remove all problems,” said Sheinbaum, who was reached in Paris. “Nobody ever said that the militants and Hamas would be removed from the scene.”

Times staff writers Duke Helfand and Mary Moore contributed to this report.