I was in Toronto for my mum's funeral when I heard the news of the shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle offices. My personal sorrow was thus compounded by grief for the death of a friend and the wounding of colleagues, but even more by the loss of whatever remained of our collective innocence and sense of safety-in-isolation.

The Millennial Bomber was caught here; but he was en route to Los Angeles. And 9/11 happened in New York and Washington, D.C. Seattle was ever supposed to be immune, safe in our obscure corner of the country and buffered by the cooling influences of Scandinavian pioneers.

Now that illusory security has been ripped away.

It is true that the accused killer struggles with mental illness, but it would be a mistake to dismiss the attack merely as the deed of an unstable man, although it was certainly that, too.

Some have been tempted to create a linkage between the attack and the previous week's demonstration in support of Israel. Indeed, there is much comfort to be found in making the terror of random violence understandable, but that too would be an illusion.

There was no connection between those killed and the violence in the Middle East; there was not a link between those wounded and the pro-Israel demonstration except a business address and a name. The truth is that there was no rhyme or reason to the attack, only blind hatred seeking some sort of outlet for violent and deluded self-expression. The reality was that an innocent, hard-working, wonderful woman, Pamela Waechter, was murdered; and others, equally innocent, hard-working and wonderful, were severely wounded.

Whatever thought process lay behind the killer's deed, our community must treat his act not only as a "hate crime" but also as an act of political terrorism. Not since the 1985 Goldmark murders has Seattle witnessed such an act of political terrorism.

Even here in far-away Toronto, we hear and feel the reverberations of the attack. From supporting the right of Israel to protect its citizens from attack by those who would deny her very right to exist, we American Jews now are beginning to feel under siege ourselves: from Muslim Americans, from Arab Americans, from anti-Israel Americans, from anti-Semitic Americans, even from nonpartisan, peace-loving Americans, even to the point of doubting the intentions of non-Jewish friends and colleagues.

It is a terrible feeling to have - and that is what makes it an act of political terrorism, meant to isolate members of the Jewish community, to make us feel threatened, to break apart the fabric of our democratic society, to bring the polarizing nature of the Arab-Israel conflict to Seattle.

Not surprisingly, it is members of the Muslim and Arab-American communities who can best empathize with our plight because what we Jews are feeling now, they felt in the aftermath of 9/11, when they and their organizations and mosques were being threatened by American xenophobes. Ironically, they are feeling it again as they fear a backlash to last Friday's murderous attack. It is to them that we must reach out to now.

Now is the time for Seattle's Jewish and Arab community leaders, and Jewish and Muslim religious leaders, to set aside the partisan divisiveness of the Middle East conflict and reach out to one another to build bridges of understanding and cooperation.

Without denying us our love for our brothers and sisters in Israel or asking us to forswear our support for Israel's right to exist in peace and security; without asking them to abandon their kin and co-religionists in the region - we must meet face to face to try to dispel the fear, the ignorance, the suspicion, and even the hate that is building in our respective communities.

As Americans, we owe it to our own peoples and the larger community not to allow the status quo ante to return.

Rabbi Anson Laytner is executive director of the Greater Seattle Chapter of the American Jewish Committee.