Bishop Budde and Dean Hollerith: Grieving the Murders of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky
Together with our neighbors in Washington, D.C. and people around the world, we grieve the murder of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, two staff members at the Israeli Embassy, who were gunned down outside the Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum.
We offer our deepest condolences to Sarah and Yaron’s family and friends; to all in the Israeli Embassy; and to our Jewish neighbors and friends in this region and beyond.
As Christian leaders, we join our colleagues and friends in the wider interfaith and ecumenical community in denouncing this heinous act and all expressions of antisemitism. We recognize the magnitude of tragedy and death in the Middle East that is a cause of unrelenting grief and frustration — which we share — yet that can never justify antisemitism and the violence it inspires.
We cannot ignore the brutal irony of where and when these murders occurred: Yaron and Sarah had just attended an event that brought together multifaith attendees to discuss humanitarian initiatives.
Now is a time of grief for two young people, in love with one another and desiring to serve humankind, murdered in our city in an act of anti-Jewish hatred. May we all extend a hand of friendship to our Jewish friends and neighbors, stand in solidarity to oppose hatred in all forms, and build communities of shared dignity and peace.
For as long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us as, We remember them.
–Rabbis Sylvan Kamens and Jack Riemer
The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Washington
The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, Dean, Washington National Cathedral.