JEWISH LEADERS URGE CALM SOME WORRY FOCUSING ON SHOOTINGS HEIGHTENS FEAR.

Byline: Naush Boghossian and Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writers

Two days after the attack at Los Angeles International Airport, religious leaders tried to comfort concerned Jews gathered in the San Fernando Valley on the Sabbath.

Synagogues around the Valley have increased security with guards and surveillance, though they are being careful not to incite more fear with the added precautions.

``I think everyone feels this great sense of sadness and horror (over the shooting),'' said congregant Sima Schuster at temple Shir Ami in Woodland Hills on Saturday.

``I think we were horrified but not surprised,'' she said. ``I just feel this unbelievable sense of a loss of opportunity. Years ago I was out there marching for peace, believing there could be peaceful talks. I don't know today. I've lost a lot of faith.''

``The Jewish community obviously feels targeted, but it's the American community and the world community that is the target of this,'' she said.

On Thursday, an Egyptian immigrant identified as Hesham Mohamed Ali Hadayet, 41, of Irvine opened fire at the ticket counter of El Al, the Israeli airline, killing Yaakov Aminov, 46, of North Hollywood and Victoria Hen, 25, of Chatsworth.

Some Jewish leaders said they were concerned that talking too much about the attacks and visibly increasing security will only heighten the fear.

``We have to avoid alarming people with too many precautions,'' said Rabbi David Vorspan, who represents the conservative congregation Shir Ami.

``There's a song we sing, and it says that all the world is like a narrow bridge and all we have to do is not be afraid to cross it.''

Rabbi Steven Jacobs of the reform congregation Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills encouraged his congregation not to overreact and to continue on with their normal lives.

``There are anti-Semitic incidents and there are anti-Semites, but we can't go crazy so that an event at the airport becomes bigger than it is,'' said Jacobs.

At the Kol Tikvah temple a sign in the lobby informs visitors they must show proper identification, leave their bags in their cars, and all bags, vehicles and persons are subject to a search while on the premises.

Vorspan, whose congregation meets in the Kol Tikvah temple, recalled a young man, looking nervous and wearing puffy clothing, who entered toward the end of the service and sat in the back.

``One member of the congregation left. I made sure to introduce myself to him at the end of the service and it turns out he was a Jewish young man,'' Vorspan said. ``This is what we're going through. We feel (the LAX attack) is just another stab at the heart of the Jewish community. But they can't stop us from living our routine lives.''

In interviews Friday and Saturday at Aminov's Sephardic synagogue, Yad Avraham North Hollywood, many said they were concerned that U.S. government officials were not acknowledging that the actions of the airport gunman amounted to terrorism.

Why else, they said, would a man armed with two guns and a knife and no identification go on the Fourth of July to the ticket counter for Israel's airline and shoot two Jews?

``It's terror, terror in its worst form,'' said Rabbi David Adatto at synagogue Yad Avraham. ``The fact that he has not been identified with a terrorist group does not mean it's not terror.''

At a service Saturday, Albert Abergel, 56, of North Hollywood told The Associated Press he was angry that officials had not immediately called the shooting a terrorist act.

He retold the story, which had already made the rounds of the congregation, about how Aminov, the father of eight children, had driven Michael Shabtay, the founder of the Yad Avraham congregation, to the airport for a trip home to Israel.

Shabtay and another friend were both wearing baseball caps as they stood in line at the El Al Airline ticket counter. Only Aminov was wearing a yarmulke, he said.

``The gunman picked him because he had a yarmulke on his head,'' Abergel said.

But some Jews were choosing not to come to any conclusions about the incident or call it an act of terrorism until they find out more about the gunman and his motive.

``I don't believe it was a terrorist attack,'' said Jacobs of Kol Tikvah, adding that he is concerned about how Muslims are being treated because of terrorism fears.

He noted traveling with a Muslim friend who would be stopped and frisked nine out of 10 times at the airport, while he was never stopped.

``It raises very serious questions about the fabric of America,'' he said.

Jacobs cautioned that the Jewish community is being made to feel more vulnerable than it should.

``I think people know they have to live somewhat dangerously, but this is not a threat to the Jewish community, to synagogue life because it was directed at El Al,'' he said. ``We're pretty safe. Everybody is so down as if there is an anti-Semite under every rock. Jews have been good to America, and America has been good to the Jews.''

MEMORIALS IN THE VALLEY

A memorial service for Yaakov Aminov will be at 8:30 a.m. today at Yad Avraham, 12426 Burbank Blvd., Valley Village.

A funeral for Victoria Hen will be at 2 p.m. today at Groman-Eden Mortuary, 11500 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills.

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Rabbi David Adatto at Yad Avraham synagogue in North Hollywood calls the shooting of fellow congregant Yaakov Aminov an act of terrorism.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

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MEMORIALS IN THE VALLEY