They were colleagues, and they were a couple, days away from a marriage proposal.
But the interwoven lives of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were brutally cut short Wednesday evening, when the two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot while leaving a reception for young diplomats at the Capital Jewish Museum.
The he 鈥渄id it for Palestine,鈥 according to court documents filed Thursday as he was charged with murder. He didn’t enter a plea.
Milgrim, a 26-year-old American from Kansas, had devoted her burgeoning career to bringing people together to look for ways to promote peace and combat climate change, those who knew her say.
Lischinsky, a 30-year-old Israeli citizen who spent some of his childhood in Germany, had a deep attachment to Israel and an interest in bridging cultural and religious divides.
He had bought an engagement ring and was just days away from proposing to Milgrim on a planned trip to Jerusalem, according to Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter.
鈥淎 young couple with a bright future, planning their life together,鈥 said Ron Prosor, a veteran Israeli diplomat who knew Lischinsky.
Yaron Lischinsky
Lischinsky grew up partly in the German city of Nuremberg and moved to Israel at 16. He served in the Jewish state’s military 鈥渁nd chose to dedicate his life to the state of Israel,” said Prosor, who taught Lischinsky at Israel’s Reichman University. Lischinsky earned a master鈥檚 degree in government, diplomacy and strategy there.
鈥淗e embodied the Judeo-Christian values and set an example for young people worldwide,鈥 Prosor said on X.
A friend, David Boskey, recalled Lischinsky as someone unafraid to broach hard questions in order to interrogate his own convictions.
He met Lischinsky in 2017 in Jerusalem at a Messianic Jewish congregation, where they would often end up talking together about life and faith, Boskey said. The Messianic movement 鈥 popularly known as Jews for Jesus 鈥 incorporates Jewish symbols and practices, but Israel considers Messianic Jews to be practicing another faith.
鈥淗e was looking to see where he was going to go in life, asking questions about calling and about identity and about what he was going to study, where he was going to work, what he wanted to pursue in life,鈥 Boskey said. He described Lischinsky as 鈥渁 truth-seeking type of person, mixed with a very, very kind and gracious willingness to serve other people.鈥
Lischinsky helped found the Israeli-German Society’s youth forum, according to its counterpart in Germany, and he took a job at the Israeli Embassy in Washington in 2022.
There, he worked as a research assistant whose responsibilities included keeping track of important events and trends in the Middle East and North Africa, his LinkedIn profile said.
He said he advocated for interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding and was an 鈥渁rdent believer鈥 in deepening Israel鈥檚 ties with the Arab world through the U.S.-brokered agreements known as the Abraham Accords.
On Instagram, his bio included a yellow ribbon symbolizing the struggle to free the hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that ignited .
Milgrim鈥檚 Instagram bio also had a yellow ribbon, as well as a passage, in Hebrew, from the biblical Book of Deuteronomy: 鈥淛ustice, justice you shall pursue.鈥
Sarah Milgrim
Milgrim was an American citizen. She hailed from Overland Park, Kansas, where a former youth director at Congregation Beth Torah remembers a brilliant girl with a perpetual smile and a sense of purpose.
鈥淪he had a passion for Judaism and for Israel, and she wanted to do some good,鈥 said Marcia Rittmaster, the former youth director. She recommended Milgrim for a Jewish leadership internship upon the young woman’s graduation from high school.
Milgrim went on to the University of Kansas, where she earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in environmental studies in 2021 and was a warm, uplifting presence at Shabbat dinners and holiday gatherings at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life.
鈥淪he believed in connections, in building community and bringing people together,鈥 Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel said. He said she loved asking questions, enjoyed insightful conversations and 鈥渨as filled with so much love.鈥
After graduating, Milgrim worked at at a Tel Aviv-based organization centered on technology training and conflict dialogue for young Palestinians and Israelis, according to her LinkedIn profile. It said she had been trained in religious engagement and peacebuilding by the United States Institute of Peace, an organization that promotes conflict resolution and was created by the U.S. Congress.
After earning a master鈥檚 degree in international affairs from American University in 2023, she went to work at the Israeli Embassy, where her job involved organizing events and missions to Israel.
Among them was an Earth Day gathering last month that highlighted Israeli companies and nonprofit groups doing climate work, recalled attendee Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, a philanthropist and a Maryland Commission on Climate Change member. She said she and Milgrim brainstormed by phone just this past week about ways to inform journalists about climate-related innovations in Israel.
鈥淪he was exceptionally talented, exceptionally passionate, really kind, extremely well-organized and very effective. And she鈥檚 the kind of young leader that, really, this nation and the world needs,鈥 Mizrahi said.
A standing-room only crowd gathered for a vigil for Milgrim in her hometown Thursday night.
Her college roommate related how her friend was an animal lover who faithfully walked her dog, took care of her pet rabbit and was a member of the beekeeping club. She was a passionate advocate for the environment, Amanda Birger said.
鈥淪he was very tactful about how she used her voice, which sometimes came off as cautious,鈥 Birger said. 鈥淏ut when it looked like wasn鈥檛 speaking up, it鈥檚 because she was trying to keep the peace.鈥
She was 鈥渢he ultimate peacemaker in her personal life and her professional life,鈥 Birger said.
Milgrim held her Jewish values dear and showed Birger how someone their age could live a joyful Jewish life.
鈥淪he stood so proudly in her Judaism. She wore it with a smile, happily educating anyone who asked about it. She made me want to be more Jewish,鈥 Birger said.
Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, said Milgrim was a point person for her organization with women鈥檚 groups, LGBTQ communities and multi-faith groups.
鈥淪he accomplished so much in her short life, and she deserves to be remembered for all the things she brought to this world,鈥 she said.
Before her work at the embassy, Milgrim was studying whether friendships between Arabs and Israelis could promote peace, Katz said.
鈥淲e knew something like this could happen,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 just don’t think we thought it would happen to her.鈥
___
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Contributing were Geir Moulson in Berlin; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv; Jennifer Peltz in New York; Sarah Brumfeld in Cockeysville, Maryland; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri; Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu; and Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire.
