Sarah Milgrim, one of two Israeli Embassy staffers fatally shot last week in an apparently politically motivated ambush in Washington, D.C., was remembered Tuesday during a private funeral in the Kansas community where she grew up.
Milgrim, a 26-year-old from the Kansas City suburb of Prairie Village, Kansas, was leaving a reception for young diplomats at the Capital Jewish Museum alongside 30-year-old Yaron Lischinsky on May 21 when they were shot to death. A suspect, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez, was arrested and shouted “Free Palestine” as he was led away. Charging documents said he later told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza.”
Lischinsky had bought an engagement ring before the shooting and was planning to propose to Milgrim in the coming days, those who knew the couple have said.
Instead of an upcoming wedding, those close to Milgrim eulogized her at a private service Tuesday at Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park, Kansas, the temple she attended as a child with her family.
Rabbi Doug Alpert of Congregation Kol Ami in Kansas City, Missouri, gave an impassioned eulogy as scores of attendees sniffled and softly sobbed.
Alpert first drew laughs as he relayed early childhood memories from her parents, Bob and Nancy Milgrim, including her love of hiding as a young child that earned her the label of “sneaky.” They also recalled her as creative, funny and preternaturally empathetic to animals. She was a vegetarian for most of her childhood and once saved an abandoned baby bunny using her mother’s oven mitts, which she promptly then returned to their kitchen drawer unwashed.
But laughter soon turned to tears as Alpert noted the backlash Milgrim faced from strangers and even some acquaintances when she joined the Israeli Embassy staff and expressed her desire for a peaceful solution to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
“We would like nothing more right now than to ask Sarah, to talk to Sarah, to learn from such a beacon of light amidst a world of darkness,” Alpert said. “We’ve been cheated out of that opportunity. And for the Milgrim family, cheated out of so much more.”
Milgrim’s boss at the embassy, Sawsan Hasson, recounted how Milgrim championed women’s and LGBTQ rights and always stuck to her mission of peace and bringing people together — especially those opposed to one another on religion, politics and ideology.
“This morning, you and Yaron were meant to be in Israel, celebrating with his family,” Hasson said. “Instead, through an unthinkable tragedy, you have brought Israel here to Kansas to meet your own loving family in your hometown. Somehow, even in your passing, you have created connection and unity.”
Milgrim earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Kansas in 2021. She was remembered as a warm, uplifting presence at Shabbat dinners and holiday gatherings at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life on campus.
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. 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’s 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.
Milgrim would have been teenager when her Kansas community was rocked by another deadly antisemitic attack in 2014. Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., an avowed anti-Semite and white supremacist, fatally shot three people at two Jewish sites in Overland Park in April of that year. At his trial, Miller openly stated that he targeted Jews for death — though none of his victims were Jewish. Miller was convicted in August 2015 and later sentenced to death.
Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, last week lauded Milgrim for her work with women’s groups, LGBTQ communities and multi-faith groups and said Milgrim was studying whether friendships between Arabs and Israelis could promote peace.
“We knew something like this could happen,” she said. “I just don’t think we thought it would happen to her.”
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