At the funeral of Sarah Milgrim in Kansas on Tuesday, those who knew the slain Israeli Embassy employee remembered a woman deeply committed to unity and peace.
Milgrim, 26, and fellow embassy staffer Yaron Lischinsky, 30, were gunned down on May 21 after attending an event centered on improving humanitarian aid to the Middle East. According to an FBI affidavit, the shooter claimed he “did it for Gaza.”
At Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park, Kansas, speakers shared heartfelt memories, from Milgrim’s childhood love of animals and horseback riding to a moment when she used oven mittens to rescue a baby rabbit, The New York Times reported.
A rabbi who had known her since childhood spoke of her strong ties to the Jewish community through her school years in Prairie Village and at the University of Kansas.
Her supervisor at the embassy described her as a gifted liaison who approached her work “with a natural brilliance and boldness.”
Rabbi Doug Alpert of Kol Ami synagogue in Kansas City, Missouri, called her “a good soul” and “a pursuer of peace,” praising her “innate sense of goodness” and belief that people should be “loving caretakers” of the world, according to the Times.
Milgrim’s upbringing in Kansas City’s small Jewish community—about 20,000 people across two states—was shaped by resilience in the face of antisemitism, including swastikas at her high school in 2017, the report said.
The shooting, which prosecutors are treating as a murder, happened days before Milgrim and Lischinsky were to fly to Israel, where he intended to propose, said Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. Instead, their funerals were held a day apart—Milgrim’s in Kansas and Lischinsky’s in Israel.
On Tuesday, security surrounded the synagogue as friends and family gathered to say goodbye. Several speakers described Milgrim’s tireless efforts for peace, including her work with the embassy.
While pursuing a master’s at American University, Milgrim spent time in Israel with a program uniting Israelis and Palestinians in their 20s through joint seminars. The initiative aimed to build bridges through shared skills and dialogue.
