23-05-2025
Local Jewish leaders express resilience, renewed effort to fight anti-Semitism after DC attack
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — After two Israeli Embassy staffers were gunned down outside a faith-based event in downtown DC Wednesday, local Jewish leaders are sharing messages of grief, resilience and renewed efforts to fight ant-Semitism.
Songs and condolences were shared outside the Capital Jewish Museum on Thursday, less than 24 hours after Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim were gunned down on-site.
'We are brokenhearted for them and for their families. We are heartbroken for all Jews in America who don't feel safe in this moment,' said Rabbi Shira Stutman, founding rabbi of Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.
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The grief felt far beyond D.C. has sprouted a new call within and outside the Jewish community to fight antisemitism.
Gil Preuss, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, told DC News Now he received a text about the shooting while on the couch with his wife at home, expressing a closeness to the tragedy.
'A young couple at this event focused on bridge building and peace, and then they were brutally murdered… We had a staff meeting today, and people were crying… This was an attack that many of us could be at and were at,' Preuss said.
As war continues to grip the Middle East and upend so many lives, the toll is now directly on American soil after last night's killings.
'The level of hatred and anti-Semetics arising out of what may be legitimate disagreements out of what's happening in Israel and Gaza, but it's taken to this level now for people to go out and murder others, is just something we all have to collectively fight against,' Preuss added.
The faces of hostages taken by Hamas continue to face outward at the Israeli Embassy in the Van Ness neighborhood–serving as a visual reminder to not forget about their lives, and the anti-Semitism behind the October 7th attack.
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No doubt, security will continue to be the subject of conversation among congregations, as will what can be done to stop the spread of hateful rhetoric, as well as violence.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper from the Simon Wiesenthal Center said, 'Whatever your political orientation is and however strong you feel your love for the Holy Land and for the state of Israel. So I view this as a major escalation, and this is beyond the reach of the local police. This is something that has to be dealt with from the top. And I was relieved that the president made a very fast statement.'
At the crime scene to observe the vigil Thursday, Rabbi Scott Perlo of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation said, 'If you're not enraged, you should be, and if you're not brokenhearted, you ought to be. How can we stand here like it's normal? Like this is our world. Don't you want something better? Aren't you willing to fight for it?'
US Holocaust Memorial Museum Chairman Stuart E. Eizenstat said, 'Inciteful anti-Semitic rhetoric is a growing and increasingly deadly danger to Jews and societies worldwide. It must be forcibly and universally condemned.'
Cooper pleaded, 'We need our neighbors. We need our elected officials. We need the media to wake up and to sort of bring not only the issue of anti-Semitism, but anything to do with hate crimes. We have to go back to bipartisanship. Not everything should be a political football.'
The Capital Jewish Museum said it plans to reopen in the coming days with the 'necessary security' in place.
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