Rabbi’s Update 5/23/2025

Dear Friends:

Yesterday morning I sent out a special message after the horrific murders Wednesday night of two young Israeli Embassy staffers, Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky.

More information has come out since yesterday morning about Sarah and Yaron, about the event they were leaving when they were murdered, and about the suspect in their murders. These are just a few more thoughts in the wake of this horrific event.

Sarah grew up in rural Kansas and had volunteered with an organization called “tech2peace” which is a joint Israeli-Palestinian NGO which brings together young Israelis and Palestinians to learn, together, high tech and entrepreneurial skills while using dialogue and team building methodologies to encourage them to understand and respect the “other.” Sarah worked at the Israeli Embassy as a local employee organizing people to people trips to Israel and was not an Israeli citizen.

Yaron was the son of a Jewish Israeli father and a German Christian mother. At age 16 he moved from Germany to Israel, served in the IDF and obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Israel. He had worked as a research assistant at the Israeli Embassy since 2022. Although an Israeli citizen and IDF veteran, he was not halachically Jewish and he was a practicing Christian, attending a Hebrew-speaking church in Jerusalem. Both Yaron and Sarah were dedicated to interfaith and intercultural dialogue.

Although no one knows for sure, it seems that Yaron and Sarah were targeted as Jews and not specifically as Israeli or employees of the Israeli Embassy. They were attending an event for young Jews who work at embassies or in the fields of international affairs and international development. The event ended at around 9 pm and the alleged gunman was pacing up and down in front of the Capital Jewish Museum where the event was held. The location of the event was not publicized except to attendees and I don’t know whether the gunman somehow knew about the event or was just taking a chance that a Jewish event would be held there on Wednesday night (not a bad assumption).

While modern antisemites will often claim that they don’t hate Jews, they only hate “Zionists”, the targeted event was sponsored by a Jewish organization that is not explicitly Zionist and is not controlled by or affiliated with the Israeli Embassy of the Government of Israel. And ironically enough, the presentation the attendees came to hear was about multinational efforts to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

It should also be noted that the alleged gunman was not Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim. He is apparently affiliated with a far-left organization called the “Party for Socialism and Liberation” which regularly posts anti-Israel rhetoric on social media. His actions were condemned by most responsible Muslim organizations such as the Muslim Public Affairs Council, whose statement can be found here. 

We will include special prayers appropriate to the situation in our services tonight and tomorrow morning. I also want to note that the County government has reached out to us and that there was a visible police presence in our parking lot yesterday. The police have promised to increase their patrolling of religious sites for the foreseeable future.

I recently began an Adult Education class called “Echoes of the Spirit: Exploring the Psalms' Wisdom”. Last night we began exploring the Hallel Psalms, songs of praise and joy which we sing on certain holidays. These are Psalms 113 through 118 and can be found in any siddur. Last night we got through the background of Hallel and the first two psalms, 113 and 114. The video of last night’s class can be found here. If you want to follow the discussion, it would be helpful to have a siddur or Bible since I did not do a screen share of the text.

As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building.

As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org or 301-977-0768 rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by. 

Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Charles L. Arian