Bari Weiss
Last night, outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., a gunman opened fire and murdered two young people because he thought they were Jews and because they were gathered in a Jewish place for an event hosted by a Jewish organization.
Before I tell you about their alleged killer and the culture of lies that created the climate for his murderous rampage, I want to tell you about the people he cut down. Because I promise you: There will be no campaigns or hashtags or celebrities’ videos urging all of us to say their names.
Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. Those are their names. They met at work—they were staffers at the Israeli embassy—and fell in love. Yaron, 30, had purchased an engagement ring for Sarah, 26, a few days ago. They were meant to fly to Israel this coming Sunday so that she could meet his parents, who live in Jerusalem, before he proposed.
Yaron was born in Israel to a Jewish father and a Christian mother. He was raised partly in Germany—he spoke German, Hebrew, and Japanese—and the mixed nature of his life embodied the very best of the West and the openness of our civilization. His friend Mariam Wahba, a Coptic Christian born in Egypt, said he was a “kind and generous friend, a devout Christian, and a defender of Israel. We would sit and debate early Christian theology for hours over a gin and tonic, and he would check in on me after every attack on Christians in Egypt.”
Sarah Milgrim was a Jew raised in Kansas who began working at the embassy in November 2023—a month after the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023. She had two master’s degrees—one in international studies from American University, and a second in natural resources and sustainable Development from the United Nations University for Peace. Sarah was an idealist: she volunteered with Tech2Peace, which supports entrepreneurship between young Palestinians and Israelis. When she was a high school senior, in 2017, some swastikas appeared on her public high school. “I worry about going to my synagogue, and now I have to worry about safety at my school,” she told the local TV station at the time. “And that shouldn’t be a thing.”
No comments:
Post a Comment