Attack on Israel Stirs Up Students : Gulf war: Young Jewish scholars also worry that their university in Bel-Air may become a terrorist target.

Dan Moskovitz returned to his dorm room from the Galleria, turned on the TV and heard the news he dreaded: Iraq had fired missiles into Israel.

“I started to cry,” said Moskovitz of San Francisco, a freshman who chose to attend Bel-Air’s University of Judaism “so I would be able to express my Judaism freely.”

Pride mingled with anxiety Thursday night as word of the war’s expansion to Israel reached the small liberal arts and Judaic studies college. In a small cafeteria devoid of television sets, in a scene from other times and older generations, students huddled around radios, hungrier for scraps of news than for the kosher dinners they left untouched.

“I’m worried and I’m scared,” said Ephi Betan, a senior with Israeli-born parents in Connecticut and the rest of her extended family--grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins--living throughout Israel.

“I’m fearful not just because I think war is a fearful thing,” she continued, concern evident on her face and her words measured. “I’m surprised Israel waited for Iraq to send missiles first. Israel is a dense country, with a high population, and the potential for damage is great.”

Other students worried that their school might become a target of terrorism, especially in the wake of last week’s firebombing of a North Hollywood synagogue. The 9-year-old university with 120 full-time students is near the Stephen S. Wise Temple on Mulholland Drive, off the San Diego Freeway.

“It’s scary living in one of the United States’ biggest cities, with one of the biggest Jewish populations, across from one of the most prominent temples,” said Sharon Zlotowicz of Agoura Hills, who took a deep breath and gave out her name despite pressure from friends not to do so.

“After just finishing ‘Jewish Civilization,’ and knowing my ancestry, I’m actually revolted that our ancestors and even ourselves have never been able to live freely in our own homeland,” the freshman continued. “The fact that we’re being attacked by Saddam Hussein just disgusts me.”

Mimi Sells, a spokeswoman for the university, said security has been tightened because of the Middle East war. Students were to attend a briefing today on precautions, which Sells declined to disclose.

The university president, Dr. David Lieber, said precautions include locked doors and checking packages. Ironically, he said, it was just as a service to pray for peace concluded Wednesday “when we got word the fighting had started.”

No classes were canceled--Dean of Academic Affairs Hanan Alexander was adamant about that--but a dance planned to welcome students back to school went unattended Thursday night.

“We have bigger things to worry about than a dance,” said freshman Eric Golub of Long Island, N.Y.

“I hope he goes to blazes with the whole country,” Golub said of the Iraqi president.

Jack Shechter, a rabbi and continuing education instructor, appeared unflappable as he ate tuna and cheese and listened closely to a boom box by the cafeteria’s cashier.

“My attitude is, I don’t have faith they can inflict very serious damage on Israel,” said Shechter, who was a military chaplain in Korea. “Obviously I am worried, but deep down I really think Iraq is a paper tiger.”

Alexander, the dean, said he planned to meet with students Thursday night to reassure them and give them a chance to air their feelings.

“The students are legitimately concerned and are experiencing a very strong bag of mixed emotions,” he said, noting that a few worried parents had called the school. Most were concerned about terrorists, but one couple feared their Israeli-born son would try to return to Israel to fight.