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Newsweek
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Capital Jewish Museum's LGBTJews Exhibit is About Pride and Preservation
Leaders of Jewish institutions rarely need a reminder that antisemitism, like other forms of discrimination, still exist. But when Washington, D.C.'s Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum launched its new exhibition, "LGBTJews in the Federal City," in May, they had no idea that a deadly attack would unfold on their doorstep. On May 21, Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, two Israeli embassy staffers attending an event at the museum, were shot and killed. The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, 31, allegedly told police as he was apprehended: "I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza." In contrast, Lischinsky and Milgrim were at the museum to attend an annual interfaith event held by the American Jewish Committee for young people in diplomatic service, to promote peace and understanding despite differences of beliefs and opinions, specifically focused on humanitarian diplomacy. Rodriguez was charged the following day with murder of foreign officials, amongst other serious federal offenses. "Such acts of terror attempt to instill fear, silence voices and erase history—but we refuse to let them succeed," Dr. Beatrice Gurwitz, executive director of the museum, said in a statement after the shooting. "The Capital Jewish Museum was built to tell the centuries-old story of the greater Washington region's vibrant Jewish community. We are proud to tell these stories of Jewish life. In our work, we share Jewish stories in the service of building bridges and opening dialogue in our beautiful city." Building those kinds of bridges is what the museum is especially proud of, and what its new exhibit represents. Shortly before the killings, Newsweek spoke with Gurwitz in conjunction with WorldPride 2025 for a previously planned story about the new exhibit. While the quotes in this story are from before the shooting, the tone of "LGBTJews in the Federal City" reinforces Gurwitz's sentiment about the importance of resisting fear and not being silenced, and is consistent with how they addressed the attack afterward. "There's going to be debate and disagreement embedded in [what to exhibit]," Gurwitz told Newsweek. "And then the other thing that we take seriously as an institution is doing our best to capture those debates right. There is never one opinion. There is never one approach. And I think that we have a responsibility to not only document Jewish political engagement, but also showcase the ways that people have come at it from diverse perspectives over time." And for much of these debates, no matter the issue, it's the backdrop of Washington, D.C., that gives it its weight and national implications, said Jonathan Edelman, collections curator. "No matter what city people were living in when they fought for their rights, people gathered in Washington." Jewish Allies march in the DC pride parade, 1990s. Jewish Allies march in the DC pride parade, 1990s. Gift of Bet Mishpachah with thanks to Joel Wind & Al Munzer, Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum Collection Telling a Complicated History "I feel like my whole curatorial practice for the last 30 years has been leading to this moment," Sarah Leavitt, director of curatorial affairs for the Capital Jewish Museum, told Newsweek. "I think, increasingly, stakes are really high and it's really on us as museum professionals to really be doing part of that work to tell America's story in a much more complicated way. And that includes to tell, in our case, a local Jewish story in a complicated way." The exhibit—with hundreds of artifacts provided by the community, a large portion of which came from the local LGBTQ+ Bet Mishpachah synagogue—maps LGBTQ+ history and its intersection with Jewish history in Washington, D.C., through images, archival protest campaign posters, Washington Blade archives, a panel of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and oral histories produced with the Rainbow History Project. "A big part of this exhibition and this collecting effort is to capture more of this history, especially LGBTQ history, which has either been erased intentionally by people trying to protect themselves, or by people who don't believe that history should be preserved," Edelman said. As a recent transplant to D.C. while in graduate school, he found that "in every aspect of the Jewish community, there were large amounts of out LGBTQ people," unlike where he grew up in the Midwest. "I want everyone to see themselves in this exhibit and see that LGBTQ history is Jewish history." As an intern at the museum in 2019, he had the germ of an idea which has now flourished into this exhibit. The collection puts particular emphasis on two key aspects of queer life in Washington, D.C.: the Lavender Scare moral panic from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s and the AIDS epidemic in the '80s and early '90s, as well as the impact it had on recent LGBTQ+ history in D.C. and the Jewish community. A photograph of Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky is displayed outside the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum on May 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. A photograph of Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky is displayed outside the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum on May 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty 'What Happens Here Matters' "Washington has a specific story with the Lavender Scare—the purge of homosexuals from the federal government, which we're kind of seeing again right now. This is not a new story," Edelman said. During the height of the anti-Communist movement of the mid-20th century, thousands of queer federal employees were either fired or forced to resign because of their sexual orientation. One of these fired workers, Frank Kameny, became an influential activist in the gay rights movement. He would go on to form the influential Mattachine Society of Washington in 1960 and, in 1965, organized protests outside the White House advocating for gay rights and the reinstatement of federal works. The story of Kameny, a Jewish man, is one of the many told about this period. "To me, it's so important that my generation understands what people before us had to go through and what they fought for beyond the story of Stonewall, beyond Harvey Milk," Edelman said. "Washington was such an epicenter in its own way and had its own unique aspects." While the exhibit does focus on D.C., it's the national implication these stories have that's most salient, despite rarely getting the attention better-known people and events in queer history do, like the 1969 Stonewall riots, an uprising after repeated police brutality against LGBTQ+ people; or Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S. who was assassinated in 1978. "D.C. has such important national resonance. And I think maybe, the rest of the country ignores that at their peril," Leavitt said. "What happens here matters for real. And the work that happens in the federal government every day, it matters. And again, that's not always a march toward justice. I mean, a lot of terrible things have happened at the federal level as well. But it's not just Frank Kameny, who we know devoted his entire life and career to opening up the federal government to gay workers, but there are so many other people as well who are marching with him." "This exhibition is so much more than the sum of its parts because it really helps emphasize why D.C. was such an important place for the LGBTQ movement and how that change rippled out across the country," Gurwitz said. "You see how the emergence of gay culture in D.C., the particular threats to gay people in D.C., help mobilize all of the different kinds of change that happened in D.C., which then has a national impact." Exhibition space at the Captial Jewish Museum Exhibition space at the Captial Jewish Museum Capital Jewish Museum The Sheer Scope Unsurprisingly, given its significance as a turning point for the movement, the exhibit also focuses on the AIDS epidemic. "When you look at the AIDS crisis, this is something that people in our generation, some people know about, but a lot of people don't," Edelman said. "I sat in this home with this one [older] man, where he was flipping through pages of photographs from the 1996 display of the AIDS quilt on the National Mall. And there were a lot of pictures of specific quilt patches, not just the big, broad photos. And I asked him why he took all of these, and he said, 'These are all my friends and former lovers who I lost.' It was dozens of people. And I don't think we understand the scope of that." One thing the trauma of the AIDS epidemic did do was force institutions to reevaluate how LGBTQ+ people are seen. One way this manifested was a critical debate about the inclusion of gay victims of the Holocaust in Jewish institutions during this era. "There was a movement in the 1980s to make sure that the Holocaust Museum tell[s] the story of non-Jewish gay victims of the Holocaust," Gurwitz said. "There were Jewish advocates advocating to tell these stories and ultimately Elie Wiesel wrote a letter and said you have to tell these stories. This needs to be part of it. I think that is such an important testament to the importance of our cultural institutions in sharing history in a way that shapes our understanding of the past." In 1989, Wiesel, a Nobel Prize-winning writer and Holocaust survivor, was awarded the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ rights organization. At the ceremony, Wiesel said: "Those who hate you hate me. Bigots do not stop at classes, at races, or at lesbians and gays. Those who hate, hate everybody." The Holocaust Museum in D.C. opened on April 26, 1993, a day after the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. And the stories of homosexual victims of the Holocaust were included. US President Barack Obama hands to gay rights activist Frank Kameny a pen which he used to sign a presidential memorandum regarding federal benefits and non-discrimination June 17, 2009 in the Oval Office of the... US President Barack Obama hands to gay rights activist Frank Kameny a pen which he used to sign a presidential memorandum regarding federal benefits and non-discrimination June 17, 2009 in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. More MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty A Blessing of Memories "I think it resonates so deeply because it's recent history," Gurwitz said about most of the LGBTQ+ history on display at the exhibition. "And it is significant change over time. We can all find moments that we remember, that trigger our own experiences and allow us to see that we have been part of this evolution. So, I think it is actually tremendously moving for people who come in the door." "The rich and interesting and pulls in local context, national context, international context, Jewish stories, non-Jewish stories. There is so much to engage with and to learn that even people who feel like they know this history will have something to learn in this exhibition, and that's extraordinarily gratifying." It's the context of these stories being told through the prism of diverse perspectives that makes "LGBTJews in the Federal City" particularly poignant after the events of May 21. "May their memory be a blessing" is a traditional Jewish expression of condolence after someone dies. Capturing those memories, the lives lived and tragically cut short, like Lischinsky and Milgrim, are what make the work of institutions like the Capital Jewish Museum vital. As Leavitt said about the exhibit before the shooting, she hopes the exhibition is "one way for people to see their story, whatever their identity is." LGBTJews in the Federal City will be on exhibit until January 4, 2026.
New York Post
09-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Amid the horrific rise in Jew-hatred, the US Holocaust Museum must reexamine its role
The murders of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim in Washington and the attack on Jewish seniors, including Holocaust survivor Barbara Steinmetz, in Boulder, Colo., remind us that the lessons of the Holocaust remain unlearned. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum can help teach those lessons — if it concentrates on antisemitism as opposed to other hatreds, as it should, and goes beyond the Nazi horror. Advertisement Recall that the Holocaust occurred in European countries where ordinary citizens cooperated or stood indifferent to the mass murders of their neighbors. Today, after decades of proclaiming 'never again,' antisemitism in the US has hit a frightening new peak. The Holocaust Museum is supposed to educate about the dangers of antisemitism. Advertisement But as a proud member of its council, I know first-hand that it needs to do much more to fulfill that important role. The museum's weak connection to the Jewish people stems from its design, created when antisemitism seemed a thing of the past. Since then, it has shifted focus to combatting other forms of hate. The museum also provides no context of Jewish history before 1930 or after 1945. Advertisement And a planned multimillion-dollar renovation of the main exhibit hall could make the museum even more woke and disconnected. Frankly, the operation is in danger of becoming a liberal monument to the dangers of immigration enforcement and conservative politics. What the museum should be doing instead is teaching Americans that antisemitism is the world's oldest hatred, dating back 4,000 years when Nimrod is said to have thrown Abraham into a fiery furnace, and gaining steam with the rise of Christianity. More important, the museum needs to teach the story of Jewish survival; the founding of Israel in 1948, the wars of 1967 and 1973, and the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. Advertisement It should cover pogroms that spurred the Zionist movement, helping make the case for the existence of a Jewish state. And it should emphasize America's cherished opportunities for Holocaust survivors and their families. Nineteen months after the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, the museum lacks focus on the ongoing crisis. It reaches thousands of teachers and visitors but teaches broadly about hate, and not enough about antisemitism in particular. It fails, for example, to address antisemitism's recent surge, particularly at US universities. A Harvard-Harris poll in April found 51% of American 18- to 24-year-olds favored Hamas over Israel. Clearly, the museum needs to do a better job of reaching and teaching young people about Israel, Jewish history and current events. Indeed, no metric shows the museum contributing to any reduction in antisemitism. Sadly, all signs suggest it is failing in this regard. Advertisement The good news: President Donald Trump has made combatting antisemitism a priority and has begun cleaning house at the museum. Last month, he removed several Biden appointees, including Ron Klain, Doug Emhoff, Tom Perez, Susan Rice, Jon Finer and Anthony Bernal, none of whom were suited for the council. Rice had politicized Biden's National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism by excluding anti-Zionism and including Islamophobia. Advertisement Finer called members of the Israeli government 'abhorrent,' slamming it at a meeting with Arab American leaders in Dearborn, Mich., last year. Emhoff, appointed just three days before Trump took office, resisted his removal, claiming it 'dishonors the memory of 6 million Jews murdered by Nazis that this museum was created to preserve.' That's nonsense: Replacing these partisan figures has nothing to do with the 6 million murdered Jews, the Holocaust survivors or their descendants. On the other hand, the new council members appointed by President Trump will bring expertise from their careers as well as their skills and their important values. Advertisement Again, the US Holocaust Museum was created to preserve the memory of the Shoah and protect future generations from violent antisemitism. To accomplish this at a time when Jews face their biggest threats in decades requires greater oversight by the council and a broader, bolder outlook that addresses today's emerging problems. It's time to rethink the facility's role and what it is supposed to do to combat antisemitism. Advertisement It's time make the US Holocaust Museum great again. Martin Oliner, a lawyer and the son of Holocaust survivors, was mayor of Lawrence village from 2010 to 2016.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Joplin grieves with family of slain diplomats
Members of a family with Joplin ties grieving the fatal shootings of 26-year-old Sarah Milgrim and her boyfriend, Yaron Lischinsky, 30, say there is no healing to be accomplished for victims of terrorism while lives are taken because of hate. Robert Milgrim, formerly of Joplin, said he and his family are still processing the deaths May 21 of his daughter and Lischinsky as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum. The two had attended a discussion involving young professionals on ways to get humanitarian aid safely to Gazans. The pair worked for the Israeli Embassy and planned to have careers in diplomacy. When they emerged from the museum, they were shot by a man identified as a far-left activist who shouted 'Free Palestine' as he was taken into custody at the scene. The Milgrim family has been left in 'total devastation and loss. We were so close' to Sarah, her father said. She was a young woman who was devoted to faith, family and helping those in the Middle East toward stability and peace. 'We have to get rid of this hate that's in the world,' Robert Milgrim told the Globe by telephone on Thursday. 'Killing somebody does not accomplish anything.' Palestinians are starving and without other necessities in the wake of hostilities that started Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas, an Arab/Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, attacked Israel. 'The reason Israel is trying to control aid (sent for Gaza) is that a large portion was hijacked by Hamas and they sell it on the black market,' Robert Milgrim said. His wife, Nancy Milgrim, said in an interview of the family aired Wednesday on CBS that she didn't know anything about the support expressed for the shooter from pro-Palestinians in the U.S. 'I don't know anything about that, but Sarah wasn't against the Palestinians; she wasn't against the people in Gaza. She was in all her heart working towards finding a way for everyone to live together peacefully,' the mother said. Sarah Milgrim's brother, Jacob Milgrim, said 'There's nothing more important in Judaism than life and the sanctity of life, and to what end is this fighting and sacrifice? What does it accomplish taking my sister from me? It's not going to accomplish anything.' Roger Gladden of Joplin, founder of Christians for World Peace, visits the Middle East as part of his organization's mission to provide charitable support for the region. 'Christians have a great relationship with both Israel and Arabs,' Gladden said, although people need to be respectful of the political and religious differences. The Holy Land is a significant holy site for a number of religions. There is a small population of Arabs who are anti-Israel. The city of Bethlehem is Joplin's sister city. Gladden said a former longtime mayor of Bethlehem was Christian, but the population there has changed and the city is now overseen by Muslims. 'The answers (to violence) in the region are complex. It's such a long-standing, deep cultural situation and, frankly it's very difficult to eliminate that,' Gladden said. 'But we pray that it will become peaceful. The old city of Jerusalem is divided into four sectors and we pray for the peace of Jerusalem.' Paul Teverow, a retired Missouri Southern State University history professor who is a member of United Hebrew Congregation of Joplin, said the murders were devastating. 'First of all when you read about something like what happened in Washington, D.C., to Sarah Milgrim and her partner, how can you not be both devastated and appalled? and then, when I saw the name Milgrim I realized that might be someone I know or in my circle of associates. That was really devastating to me.' Robert Milgrim grew up in Joplin, one of three sons of Ben Milgrim, a well-known businessman who operated Milgrim's Pawn Shop on Main Street. Milgrim's was a popular store, often drawing tourists and people from other areas to shop and find treasures. Ben Milgrim died in 2010 at the age of 100. He was a member of the United Hebrew Congregation, B'nai B'rith, Joplin Elks Lodge #501 for over 65 years, Joplin Masonic Lodge, a 32nd-degree Mason and was a life member of the National Rifle Association and the Joplin Pistol Club. Teverow said of the Hebrew Congregation, 'We have received overwhelming support from the community over the years and never had any threats or messages of hostility here.' There have been Jewish families in Joplin for about 150 years and the Hebrew synagogue has been here more than a century, Teverow said. Robert Milgrim, known as Bob, grew up in Joplin and graduated in 1970 from Memorial High School. After graduating college and earning his law degree, he moved to the Kansas City area where he worked in the ERISA division of the U.S. Department of Labor. ERISA regulates retirement and health insurance funds. He said he and his family have received much support from his Joplin classmates and friends as well as people across the country. 'We have gotten many, many cards. The mailman has brought bundles' nearly every day since the tragedy. 'Many are from people I went to high school with and people I was very close with in Joplin. And many are from people we don't know. We are getting flowers and meals from people we don't know too.' 'A lot of people are mourning' with the family, he said. 'The embassy has received thousands of messages, cards and emails, and they are compiling something,' to celebrate the lives of the two lost to a hate crime.
New York Post
06-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
How NYC is stepping up to stop attacks on Jews BEFORE they happen
They were young and idealistic, and devoted their lives to peace. Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim worked in diplomacy and conflict resolution at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. They were gunned down in cold blood last month, just steps from the US Capitol. Less than two weeks later, a Colorado man firebombed a peaceful demonstration calling for the release of Israeli hostages — injuring at least 12 people, including a Holocaust survivor. While the war in Gaza is thousands of miles away, its violence has sadly come home. The attacks in DC and Colorado were not isolated; they are the latest in a growing pattern of rhetoric shifting from outrage to incitement, from slogans to direct calls for violence in Western cities. And those calls are terrifyingly being answered, and are now being seen in cities across the nation. The NYPD is working relentlessly to prevent a future attack before it begins in New York City, because the assaults in DC and Colorado will likely inspire copycat attempts. History has shown that each one makes the next more likely — that's how contagion works. It's shocking, but not surprising. In the 20 months since Hamas' terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, hate has ricocheted across the globe. Just weeks after the attack, an Illinois man murdered his Palestinian-American tenants — a 6-year-old boy and his mother — in a brutal, hate-driven attack. More than 25 attacks or disrupted plots have targeted Israeli and US diplomatic sites. Just last month, a man was arrested at JFK for allegedly trying to firebomb the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. Nearly 40 additional incidents have targeted synagogues, schools and other visible parts of Jewish life across Europe and the United States. In September, the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force disrupted a mass-casualty plot against a Brooklyn synagogue allegedly planned for the first anniversary of Oct. 7. In December, a Virginia man was arrested for planning an attack against the Israeli consulate in Midtown. That's the terrorism. There's also the hate. Antisemitic hate crimes in the city were down 20% before Oct. 7, compared to that point in 2022. That changed almost overnight: By the end of 2023, they'd surged 80%. And while Jewish New Yorkers make up just over 10% of the city's population, they've accounted for more than half of all hate crime victims in that time. Hate crimes against the Muslim community are also up, more than 160% since Oct. 7. While the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is undeniable, it doesn't excuse violence. Tragically, it may inspire more. Every high-profile attack raises the risk of another. Unfortunately, individuals already on the edge don't need instructions; they just need a spark. That's why the NYPD is acutely focused on prevention: to snuff out sparks before they catch, and to ensure that hate has no chance to spread like wildfire. We calibrate our presence to meet the threat — no matter where it lurks or whom it targets. Since Oct. 7, the NYPD has surged uniformed patrols around synagogues and other houses of worship, Jewish schools and cultural institutions, hardening soft targets whenever and wherever necessary. That's how we protect all New Yorkers. The NYPD's Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau closely tracks developments at home and abroad, and we don't fight terrorism and hate alone. Task forces. Shared intelligence. Constant coordination with all our partners — international, federal, state, local and private sector — to detect threats early. That's how this work gets done. Anything less won't cut it. Importantly, some of the most serious threats we've stopped originated from a tip from an observant member of the public, making your eyes and ears just as critical as enforcement. That's why 'if you see something, say something' is not just a slogan; it's our force multiplier that allows us to disrupt attacks before they start. While there are no known specific, credible threats to New York City at this time related to the horrific incidents in DC or Colorado, all of us — law enforcement, intelligence officials, the public and the communities we serve — must always be vigilant to stay ahead of this threat. That means acting early. Moving fast. And stopping the next one before it happens. Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim believed in something better. They built their lives around it — and they were killed for it. May their memories be a blessing. Eric Adams is mayor of New York. Jessica S. Tisch is NYPD commissioner.
CBS News
06-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Feds warn about threats to Israeli and Jewish institutions and supporters in U.S.
Washington — Federal law enforcement agencies have issued a new intelligence bulletin, obtained by CBS News, warning that recent attacks in Boulder, Colorado, at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., and at the Pennsylvania governor's residence "could motivate others to conduct violence against Israeli and Jewish institutions, or their supporters." The memo was issued by the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center to law enforcement nationwide Wednesday, voicing concern that "some individuals online are sharing the manifesto of the alleged Capital Jewish Museum attacker, praising their actions, and calling for additional violence." "We advise security partners to remain vigilant for threats of targeted violence against Jewish and Israeli communities, and their supporters," the memo says. On Sunday, a suspect allegedly used Molotov cocktails to attack a march for Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado, injuring more than a dozen people. He has since been charged with 118 state criminal charges, including 28 counts of attempted murder. On May 21, two Israeli Embassy employees, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were shot and killed as they left the Capital Jewish Museum. The suspect, who shouted "Free Palestine" as he was taken into custody, faces first-degree murder charges. And in April, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, was allegedly targeted by a man who officials say intentionally set fire to the governor's residence while Shapiro and his family were home asleep. The suspect has been charged with attempted murder, terrorism and other crimes. The law enforcement bulletin said intelligence analysts assess that "online messaging promoting violence by foreign terrorist organizations, their supporters, and other threat actors particularly messaging that highlights successful attacks –- could compel threat actors motivated by various ideologies to engage in violence." The law enforcement agencies also warned that foreign terrorist organizations have pushed content encouraging violence regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, "and the online messaging is one of many factors that has influenced the radicalization of violent extremists." contributed to this report.
