We Cry Out

The theme of the American Jewish Committee event at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday evening was entitled “Turning Pain into Purpose.” It featured members of the Multifaith Alliance and IsraAID speaking about how a coalition of organizations are responding to humanitarian crises throughout the Middle East and North Africa. As Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, staff members of the Israeli Embassy, left the event, they were gunned down. Sarah and Yaron were in the prime of their lives. Yaron had just bought an engagement ring this past week to propose to Sarah. Too much pain for no purpose. We extend our deepest condolences to their families and friends.

This was a blatant act of antisemitism. Nothing justifies such violence—not opinions about the war in Gaza nor the cause of Palestinian liberation. Violence will never be the answer. Not for Israelis and not for Palestinians. No one wins. It only leads to more hatred and bloodshed.

We know we are living with so many emotions from this attack: heartbreak for the victims and their families, fear in the face of rising antisemitism and the targeting of Jews in our own capital, despair for all the ways we have been robbed of hope for hope. Many of us also are gravely concerned by the ways this attack will be used to justify the weaponization of antisemitism to dismantle free speech and the foundations of our democracy.

There is no doubt that it is a time to weep and a time to mourn; a time to embrace and a time to seek community—for support, for comfort, and to hold one another in all that is so broken, amidst all the fear and uncertainty. Together we will need to be there for each other with all we are carrying.

It breaks our heart that it is too late for Sarah and Yaron. When will this madness end? And yet, in all our sorrow and pain, we know our tradition is always asking us to overcome despair and to work for transformation.

So we cry out from the depths,
מִמַּעֲמַקִּ֖ים קְרָאתִ֣יךָ יְהֹוָֽה׃
Psalm 130:1

And we look to the heavens and ask, from where our help will come?
אֶשָּׂ֣א עֵ֭ינַי אֶל־הֶהָרִ֑ים מֵ֝אַ֗יִן יָבֹ֥א עֶזְרִֽי׃
Psalm 121:1

For these things we weep, our eyes flow with tears
עַל־אֵ֣לֶּה ׀ אֲנִ֣י בוֹכִיָּ֗ה עֵינִ֤י ׀ עֵינִי֙ יֹ֣רְדָה מַּ֔יִם
Lamentations 1:16

And we hold on to the faith that those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.
הַזֹּרְעִ֥ים בְּדִמְעָ֗ה בְּרִנָּ֥ה יִקְצֹֽרוּ׃
Psalm 126:5

May the memories of Sarah and Yaron be a blessing, and may we seek the resolve to turn pain into purpose.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Felicia Sol and Rabbi Roly Matalon