There are no words to describe the senseless loss of life the world witnessed on May 21 when Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were murdered in Washington D.C. by a man who yelled “Free Palestine” after killing them.
Yaron was not a stranger to many of us at HaTikva Project; he was a dental patient in our clinic and a member of the close-knit Jewish community of believers in Israel. Sarah grew up in the same Kansas City, reformed Jewish community as I did, and we attended the same high school and university. With the blessing of the Lischinsky Family, we set up a Bereavement Fund to help lift financial burdens from the Lischinskys as they navigate deep sorrow and begin the slow journey of healing. It’s been incredible to see the outpouring of support from more than 18 nations as people rally around the family.
Our hearts are broken, as are many across the Jewish world, to witness the monster that is anti-semitism show its face in such a heinous light. We mourn the loss of two bright lights, whose lives were ahead of them, and their love story was only just beginning to unfold.
Yet what the enemy meant for evil, we are seeing the Lord use for good. (Gen 50:20) Amidst this tragedy, because of Yaron’s status as a Messianic believer, it’s causing many Jewish people to grapple with a reality they’d previously shied away from: what it means to be Jewish and believe in Yeshua.
Unfortunately, Messianic jews are marginalized in Jewish society, held at arm’s length and thought of as illegitimate– their belief in Jesus seen as a denial of their claim to Judaism and a turning away from their people. And yet, in this tragedy, the Jewish world took notice: anti-semitism doesn’t discriminate between Jew and Messianic jew.
Gideon Sa’ar, the Foreign Minister of Israel, attended Yaron’s funeral and gave a eulogy where he claimed Yaron as “one of us”. Multiple Jewish publications are doing the same. At the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast, a prominent Orthodox Rabbi publicly acknowledged that it is time for the Jewish people to understand their connection to their Messianic Jewish brothers and Christians, and stop pushing them away. Yaron’s witness is unexpectedly building a bridge into the Jewish community like we’ve never seen. We mourn for the loss of a fellow believer, we grieve for his family, and we believe that God can use even this senseless evil for His glory. Eyes are being opened, and old mindsets are shifting as the legitimacy of our community and the good we do for the nation of Israel is being seen!
May God be glorified and turn many hearts to the beauty of his son, Yeshua.