05/23/2025
Here is the text of the email Rabbi Adrienne sent to the congregation about the attack on Yaron Lischinsky z’’l and Sarah Lynn Milgrim z’’l in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night. We hope you will join us for Shabbat tonight as we remember these young people who were working to create peace and healing in our world. Please note that our usual security will be heightened this evening. We ask that guests seeing this post who wish to join us for Shabbat please let us know in advance by PM so we can add your name to our list.
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Shalom, Bnai Shalom.
Yesterday, we awoke to the painful and devastating news that Israeli Consulate staffers Yaron Lischinsky z’’l and Sarah Lynn Milgrim z’’l were murdered by an anti-Israel domestic terrorist outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. They were attending an event sponsored by the AJC, the American Jewish Committee, “Turning Pain into Purpose.” This event for young professionals focused on responding to the humanitarian crises in the Middle East and North Africa through diplomacy and coalitions of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, including The Multifaith Alliance and IsraAID. Sarah was only 28. Yaron was only 30.
My heart is heavy. My heart is always heavy when I learn of hate-driven acts of violence and senseless killings. My heart aches for their families here in the US and in Israel. My heart aches for their friends at the embassy, the AJC, from their schools. Rhetoric matters. Hatred leads to violence. Antisemitism is dangerous. We need to address the trend to normalize and even glorify hatred and bigotry and violence if our world is going to be a safer place for us and everyone around us.
At tonight’s Shabbat service, we will remember these two hopeful young people, struck down by antisemitic violence. Yaron and Sarah were not only filled with a vision of what our world could and should be, but were actively working to create that world, one filled with peace and healing. We will honor them and their legacy by coming together in the face of tragedy as our people have for centuries: with prayer, study and community. I hope you will join us, either in person or online.
I will leave you with the words of poet and liturgist Trisha Arlin.
LOOKING FOR THE HOLY
Blessed Sacred Mystery,
We search for the holy amidst pain
And memories of pain.
We touch the divine with our bodies.
We feel the threats of violence and
We give thanks if we are alive and whole.
Bless those who are safe.
We fear for those in danger.
We mourn for those who are dead or injured.
Bless those who are not safe.
We must help if we can.
Perhaps that is where we will find
The holy.
Amen
Zichronam livracha. May their memories be for a blessing.
Rabbi Adrienne
