For U.S. Jews, D.C. Museum Killings Deepen Resolve — and Fear
Valerie Plesch/For The Washington Post
People gather outside the White House on Thursday night during a vigil for Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim. They were shot and killed on Wednesday after attending a 'Young Diplomats Reception' hosted by the American Jewish Committee at the Capital Jewish Museum.
For Rabbi Ruth Balinsky Friedman, who teaches Jewish text at a D.C.-area high school, the killings of two Israeli Embassy workers this week have deepened the isolation she's felt as an American Jew in recent years.
Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel's subsequent attacks on Gaza, followed by divisions around the world over what caused the conflict and who was at fault, left the 40-year-old mother of three feeling confused, with no easy solution to the war in sight. Now, after the shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday, she feels similarly disoriented.
'Where do we as a people belong?' she said. 'Where do I belong?' And if Jews belong in America, 'why are people shooting us in broad daylight?'
Late Wednesday evening, Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, were shot after attending a Young Diplomats Reception hosted by the American Jewish Committee at the Capital Jewish Museum. The alleged shooter shouted 'Free, free Palestine' before police took him into custody.
For many Jewish Americans across the country, the shooting near the D.C. museum has reinforced a sense that they're unsafe – not safe to wear a yarmulke and not safe to go into Jewish institutional buildings, no matter how much is spent on security. For others, the attack on the young couple fueled their strength and confidence – in their faith, in their connection to Israel, in their visible Jewishness. And for yet others, May 21 was just another sad, complicated day to be an American Jew.
The Jewish community has invested many millions in securing its buildings. What does it mean, Friedman said, that people could still be murdered right on the sidewalk?
She felt 'tremendous sadness' after 'seeing the tragic loss of life and in such a senseless way,' she said. The couple was attending an event about humanitarian causes, including Gaza, she noted. 'They were fighting for the thing this shooter thought he was supporting.'
According to the Pew Research Center, the percentage of Americans saying there is 'a lot of discrimination' against Jews rose from 20 percent in 2021 to 40 percent in early 2024. Among Jewish Americans, 72 percent said Jews face a lot of discrimination – up from 48 percent in 2020. A 2024 University of Miami/NORC poll found 7 percent of U.S. Jews reported being physically threatened or attacked because they are Jewish since the Oct. 7 attacks, while 39 percent said they had heard colleagues or neighbors make slurs or jokes about Jews.
'I do show up boldly and proudly Jewish,' said Risa Borsykowsky, 58, of Long Island, who owns the Jewish Gift Place. Since the attacks of 2023, she wears a Star of David necklace, even though she is hesitant about it.
'I'm thinking, am I nuts for wearing this? I feel like I am putting myself out there as a target for verbal and physical abuse,' Borsykowsky said.
The shooting in D.C. left her feeling 'rage and absolute outrage,' she said.
But she refuses to change her day-to-day life in response, Borsykowsky said. That is her way of pushing back against anti-Israel college campus protests she calls 'antisemitic,' and against misinformation online that she believes has created an environment where antisemitism thrives.
Those things 'just create such hatred for Israel and the Jewish people that it leads to crimes like what happened' Wednesday night, Borsykowsky said. 'It's scary. It's scary to me as a Jewish person.'
Jeremy Krashin of Kansas said he was 'very shaken' by the attacks. 'It hurts. It feels like it could be your kids.'
But Krashin, 43, said his family's response to the shooting will be to become more – not less – visible as Jews.
Milgrim, one of the two Israeli Embassy workers gunned down in D.C., attended Shawnee Mission East High School a few miles from Krashin's home in Overland Park, Kansas. They had both graduated from the University of Kansas.
'We are increasing our involvement in the Jewish community. We're doing things like flying the Israeli flag outside of our house, going to synagogue and Jewish events more often. Just keeping our Jewish identity top of mind,' he said. 'We know there is a constant threat against us, and we are not cowering in fear.'
Some Jewish Americans said they were drawing on lessons from previous attacks on their community.
In 2022, a man with a gun and explosives held four people, including a rabbi, hostage at Congregation Beth Israel, a Dallas-area synagogue.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker was the leader of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville and among those held for 11 hours. The man repeated antisemitic, anti-Israel and anti-U.S. comments during the ordeal, he said.
Since the incident in 2022, and the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, his approach has remained the same, Cytron-Walker said: Focus on relationship-building. Focus on the positive. Focus on the concrete.
'I still don't believe we're in a situation where we as a Jewish community should panic. To the best of our knowledge, violent rhetoric is dangerous, but [the D.C. shooting] appears to be an individual situation and incident,' he said in an interview.
Security costs at Jewish institutions have already risen 'eight- or nine- or tenfold' since the Oct. 7 attacks, he said.
'The number one point I've tried to make … is that we can't fight antisemitism alone. That's our reality,' he said. 'If only Jews are fighting against antisemitism, we've lost.'
Local leaders and faraway friends reached out to Cytron-Walker as news of the D.C. shootings spread, he said.
'This is traumatic for Jewish communities through the country. The same way Palestinian people need love and support along with humanitarian aid, the same way as the Israeli public has been crying out for the return of hostages and an end to war. That's the kind of love and support we need right now.'
It is too early to draw conclusions about the D.C. shooting, said Rabbi Nancy Kasten, a Dallas-area interfaith activist who knows people who were held hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in 2022 and others who attend the synagogue.
Her worry, she said, was that politicians would use the museum killings as an excuse to limit free speech. 'I do not see that those tactics have worked in the past and don't know why we would think they could work to keep Jews, Israelis or anyone else safer in the future,' she said.
For now, she is focusing on an event she's been planning, titled 'Two Peoples, One Land: What Americans Can Do to Promote Peace in Israel and Palestine.' However, she said, 'I wonder how it will fall now.'
The shooting at the D.C. museum was tragic, said Joseph Landson, 56, a Navy veteran from Springfield, Virginia. 'It's a horrible time' to be Jewish in America, he said.
The killings were 'just another in an unending string of anti-Israel attacks. Notice I wrote anti-Israel. I really don't consider the attack antisemitic. New data could change my mind,' Landson said.
Landson, who can't work because of chronic disease, said he attempts to balance supporting Israel – but not unconditionally.
While he tries, he wrote The Post, to walk a middle ground, 'it feels like moderation is becoming impossible.'
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