Sarah Milgrim's life – and death – accepts us as a louder, proud Jews

“I'm worried about my synagogue and now I have to worry about my security in my school, and that shouldn't be a thing.”

These were the words of an 18-year-old Sarah Milgrim in Johnson County, Kansas, in 2017. Last week, Sarah and her friend Yaron Lischinsky were shot in an anti-Semitic hate crime in Washington on May 21, 2025 in front of an American Jewish committee event in Washington.

Years earlier, Sarah's life was already shaped by anti -Semitism. Sarah's way of defending himself was to defend herself against hate and to hug her Jewish identity.

Anti -Semitism in Kansas

Sarah was in the high school in Kansas City when the city was shaken by anti -Semitic shootings.

In April 2014, a white supremacist drove to a Jewish area of ​​Kansas City “to kill Jews”. He drove in front of a Jewish community center with children and adolescents. The shooter shot into the building many times. In the parking lot, he spied on the 14-year-old Reat Underwood and his grandfather, the 69-year-old William Corporon, who organized a talent competition in the building. The murderer both shot in Point Blank Range and they died in the scene.

The murderer then drove a short distance to a Jewish nursing home called Dorf Shalom and shot Terri Lamanno, a 53-year-old woman who visited her mother. “I wanted to make sure (explosive) that I killed some Jews or attacked the Jews before I died,” the murderer later said. Although none of his victims was Jewish, he managed to feel uncertain about his hideous goal in Kansas City – and all over the world. “Because of what I did, the Jews feel less safe,” the murderer later boasted in his process. “

The murders had a profound effect on Sarah Milgrim. When she went to the Hebrew school and was a synagogue synagogue synagogue synagogue, she was worried about her security. Then, in her final year of the high school, someone has discouraged swastikas on the property of her school. “It is so ignorant that they would address such a symbol that would bring so much pain,” Sarah told reporters at the time. “You know, I'm worried about my synagogue and now I have to worry about my safety in my school, and that shouldn't be a thing.”

If people who spoil the anti -Jewish symbols, they thought they could intimidate Sarah and prevent them from expressing their Jewish faith publicly, they were wrong. Sarah took Jewish to be Jewish and to find out about Judaism and Israel.

She was a member of the small Jewish student association of her high school, a club of about half a dozen Jewish students. She threw herself to teach her classmates about Judaism. She helped to “educate both the students and the parents of students in their public high school about anti -Semitism,” recalled the club's consultant. “That was something she was passionate about.”

“She was very involved”

“She was very involved in the Jewish life on campus,” said Rabbi Zalman Teichtel, who heads the Chabad Center on the campus, in an interview with Aish.com. “She was very passionate; she was very motivated. She wanted to influence how she could see from her career.”

Sarah used to visit Shabbat and holiday meals in Chabad and in Hillel. She joined the board of the University of Kansas Hillel and she and her brother visited Israel on birthright.

“When she was there, she had this tension in which she realized that this was a place that was one of the definitional building blocks of her identity,” recalled Ethan Helfand, the managing director of the University of Kansas' Hillel. “It seems as if she had realized that this is what she should do, she should prioritize that.”

Sarah, who described her father as a person who loved all people, recorded the animal stray who did not even “step on a beetle” because she loved life so much, never stopped growing in her connection to Israel. She completed a master's degree at the American University in Washington DC, where she researched in Israel after the “peace building” between Jews and Arabs and then received a certificate for sustainable development at the University of Peace in Costa Rica. Sarah also worked in Israel for a year and built bridges between Jews and Arabs in the high-tech sector.

Sarah was obliged to use her skills and talents to strengthen the Jewish state, regardless of the costs of her own social life.

When she returned to the United States, Sarah found that her public support for Israel made her a persona non grata in the left circles of many of her colleagues. She trusted a friend that all her friends of the university of peace had dropped them. But Sarah was committed to using her skills and talents to strengthen the Jewish state, regardless of the costs of her own social life. She accepted job planning events in the Israeli embassy in Washington DC.

“Sarah never sweated,” recalled a local figure who often worked with Sarah on events. “She was working with such class and calm.”

Growing atmosphere of the anti -Jewish hatred

Sarah began working at the Israeli message in November 2023, just a few weeks after the Hamas fighter Israel penetrated, killed over 1,200 Israeli and taken over 240 people as hostage. Before Israel started a military operation that aimed to remove Hamas from power in Gaza and restore the hostages, a large part of the world opinion had already opposed Israel. In the days in front of the murders in Washington, the atmosphere became arbitrary.

The day earlier, the UN-Unter subject Tom Fletcher wrongly announced that 14,000 babies in Gaza would die of hunger over the next 48 hours. Fletcher's statement was absolutely wrong, the UN admitted later; It seems to be based on an UN report in which the number of people who may be against malnutrition if the struggle lasts another year. Nevertheless, Fletcher's fire status had a lightning effect worldwide. Great Britain immediately broke negotiations for a trade agreement with Israel. The European Union called for its negotiations on a new trade agreement with the Jewish state.

The murderer, who shot Sarah and Yaron, posted “escalating for Gaza on social media, brought the war home” and demanded “armed actions”, bought a weapon and a ticket for Washington DC.

Ignite our own passion

Sarah knew what it was to feel tense and anxious; She also knew how to defend yourself. Even as a teenager, she understood that the best way to combat anti -Semitism, even more Jewish – to be proud Jews is the only answer to those who would try to destroy us.

In her short life, she showed us how to educate himself about Jewish life, to visit Jewish Shabbat and Vacation events, to travel to Israel and to make the world a better place. Her life is a blueprint to be more committed, more expert and proud than Jews.

This week, in memory of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, they let us do something in their memory. Take part in a shabbat meal. Read a Jewish article or book. Use us to educate us via Israel. Maybe you even plan a trip there on how to do so much. The murderer, who shot Sarah and Yaron in cold blood, stole their lives and future. But he cannot steal their legacies. Let us learn from your resistance and continue your passions.