People who knew the couple killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in what D.C. police said was a “targeted attack” remembered Yaron Lischinsky as a “smiling guy” and Sarah Milgrim as warm and compassionate.
National Council of Jewish Women CEO Sheila Katz said Milgrim was someone she admired and her staff are “devastated” by the loss of the young couple.
“She helped organize the pride events for the LGBTQ community, and she has done a lot on peace-building work, which isn’t a surprise, since she cares about civil society, dedicating a lot of her time to learning about how friendships between Palestinians and Israelis could change people’s perspectives and lead to peace,” Katz said.
Julie Rayman is the managing director of policy and political affairs at the American Jewish Committee.
“They were sort of partners in our efforts as an organization that works to build bridges and work with diplomats and other leaders to make sure that Jews around the world are safe and secure and that Israel is thriving,” Rayman said of the couple.
Rayman said Milgrim had participated in a fellowship with AJC and a civil society organization in Morocco called Mimouna.
“When someone was talking, she was truly listening. She was truly hearing them, seeing them, and trying to reach a point of understanding, and that was emblematic of her warmth and her compassion,” Rayman said.
As for Lischinsky, Rayman said, “Yaron was a smiling guy,” adding that his demeanor was “sort of giving the world a big hug with his presence.”
At Wednesday’s museum event, Rayman said Lischinsky was excited and talked about his plans to see his family in Israel for the upcoming holiday of Shavuot.
“And you know, we know sort of, from what’s been reported, that he was also planning to ask Sarah to marry him. So of course, that was a part, I’m sure, of his giddy excitement, and makes it all the more tragic,” Rayman said.
Katz said the Jewish community was “grieving and exhausted” and that the spasm of violence was, sadly, not surprising.
“We’ve known for a while that this has been coming. I’m not surprised that people were killed. I’m surprised it’s people I know,” Katz said. “I’m surprised it happened in my community, but we have been seeing antisemitism surging every single day, and not enough people have been calling it out.”
In the aftermath of the shooting, police agencies across the D.C. region announced they are increasing their presence at synagogues and other locations at the center of Jewish communities.
“We are beyond grateful to law enforcement at every level,” Rayman said, for “putting the full force of their efforts behind determining exactly what happened and making sure it doesn’t happen again.”
But Rayman added it should not have to be this way.
“It shouldn’t have to be that when a Jew goes to a synagogue to pray that they go through a metal detector like they’re going through airport security,” Rayman said. “It shouldn’t have to be that parents’ first question when they’re signing their kid up for Hebrew school is, ‘Oh, what’s your security like? And have you had any incidents?’ But that’s the reality of America today.”
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