Rabbi remembers KU alum killed in D.C., sends message: ‘More light, more love'
Hours after learning Sarah Milgrim had been killed near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel found the words he knew people needed to hear.
Words that even he, who is still processing the loss of a young woman he came to know at the University of Kansas and kept in touch with as she became a young leader in the Jewish community, can cling to.
'The message we are giving is, what would Sarah want us to do?' Tiechtel told The Star. 'What would she whisper in our ears now?
'She would say, 'More light, more love. Don't fight darkness with more darkness.' Fight darkness with light and positivity, that's the message that we are giving.'
Milgrim, 26, who grew up in Prairie Village and graduated from KU in 2021, was with her boyfriend Yaron Lischinsky, 30, when the two were gunned down Wednesday night. The pair, who worked together at the Israeli Embassy, were killed following an event at the museum.
A suspect, who police named as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez, of Chicago, was arrested at the scene, yelling, 'Free Palestine,' law enforcement said. On Thursday, Rodriguez was charged with first-degree murder and other crimes.
According to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Rodriguez told police, 'I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,' when he was taken into custody.
Milgrim and Lischinsky, who had been dating for about 18 months, planned to fly to Israel on Sunday. Milgrim would be meeting her boyfriend's parents for the first time.
Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter told media that Lischinsky had just bought an engagement ring and he was going to propose during a planned trip to Jerusalem.
Tiechtel, of the Chabad Center for Jewish Life at KU, hadn't heard about Milgrim's violent death until he started receiving texts from alumni across the county Thursday morning. People continued to reach out to him all day, searching for answers.
'People are just texting and calling non-stop, saying 'How could this be? How is this possible? She was so full of life,'' Tiechtel told The Star. 'The entire community is just very, very shaken.
'Everybody is in a state of shock, struggling to understand what is going on.'
Sarah's parents, Robert and Nancy Milgrim, told The Star Thursday that their daughter had a passion for Israel. She was offered a position at the embassy in 2023, they said, just weeks before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the aftermath of which led to the war in Gaza.
The Wednesday evening event Milgrim and Lischinsky had attended was about bridging divides between multi-faith organizations in an effort to provide more aid to areas like Gaza.
'She had her strong beliefs in making this world a better place,' Tiechtel said. 'Really believed in bridge building and connecting people with each other.
'She was somebody who really tried so hard to make love and connection. … We're so proud of her.'
While in college, Milgrim worked with KU Hillel, an organization for the Jewish community on campus. She worked as an intern and as a board member and made contributions that continue to resonate today, KU Hillel said Thursday.
On its Facebook page, the organization posted a tribute to the woman Thursday.
'In the face of such hateful violence, we come together as a community to support one another and to honor Sarah's memory,' the post read.
Also at KU, Milgrim often attended Shabbat dinners and holiday celebrations at the Chabad Jewish Center.
'She had a beautiful smile,' Tiechtel said. 'She was friendly. She came into the room and she really gave off fun and positivity.'
After getting her undergraduate degree, Milgrim went on to earn two master's degrees, her family said, one from American University in Washington, D.C., and a second from the United Nations' University for Peace in Costa Rica. Her focus was on international studies and on international sustainable development.
'She was driven to succeed,' Tiechtel said. 'And really believed in what she believed in. She was motivated to make a difference.'
Social media lit up Thursday and Friday with messages from people who had worked with young professional in the years since she left Kansas.
Sheila Katz, CEO of National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), said Milgrim worked with her organization in her role at the Israeli Embassy.
Those who knew her and worked alongside her, Katz said, 'were touched by her commitment to peace, and will continue to pursue it in her memory.'
'Like many in our community, I had the privilege of meeting Sarah and working with her,' said Katz, who released a statement after the shooting. 'I saw firsthand what a passionate person she was, and admired her work on civil society and advocating for women's rights, LGBTQ rights, and for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
'She stood up for other marginalized groups and was a light to us all.'
Hundreds gathered Thursday evening at a vigil for Milgrim inside a room at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City.
Her death and the violence that caused it, will continue to hit people everywhere hard, Tiechtel said.
'It's important to understand that when people are targeted for being a Jew that makes every Jew feel targeted,' Tiechtel said. 'Even if you don't know the person, it's very personal.
' … We just have to keep rebuilding and getting stronger, that's what she would want us to do.'
The Star's Eric Adler and Nathan Pilling contributed to this report.
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