Mission Statement

Why I'm Doing the Work that I'm Doing

The greatest joy in my life was seeing my daughter being born. Months later, October 7th changed the world, and completely changed mine. As news of the brutal massacre spread, my thoughts immediately turned to my daughter, who was then only 4 months old. She could have been one of the babies that was burned alive or held hostage.

I immediately started posting about what was happening, spreading news of the horrific massacre, and speaking up for our people. I had not been posting anything “political” in years, in part because as a musician, I didn’t want to deal with the backlash from my so-called “progressive” friends and colleagues who had already showed how antizionist, i.e. antisemitic, they were during the 2021 war against Hamas.

Oct 7th changed all that. I didn’t hesitate to post about the massacre, its aftermath, or the war that ensued. I had to advocate for our people. It was as natural an inclination as breathing. While it was heart-warming to receive messages and calls from some non-Jewish friends checking in to see if we and our family in Israel were alright, I did not expect that by Oct 8th, I would start receiving hateful messages from “friends.” Many others refused to listen or change their minds when I communicated the truth of what was going on to them. I have lost many, many friends and followers since Oct 7th. It has been painful, but I look at it as a blessing, a cleansing. My circle has grown smaller, but stronger.

I was raised to be a proud Jew. Two of my biggest influences were my grandparents. My maternal grandmother grew up in a shtetl in Poland. She was fortunate enough to move to the United States one year before the Nazis invaded, but much of our family died in the Holocaust. She deeply instilled in me the joy and values of Judaism, and loved telling stories of shtetl life.

My paternal grandfather was renowned author Charles E. Silberman. He loved Judaism and Jewish culture, and always advocated for a better world and true progress. Among his many seminal works, he wrote “A Certain People,” about American Jews and their lives in the U.S. When he wrote the book in 1985, he argued that antisemitism in America was no longer a significant factor holding Jews back. At the time, he may have been correct. If he were still alive today, I shudder to think of how he would react to America in 2026, especially seeing his alma mater, Columbia University, with Hamas-supporting professors, and students who assault, spit on, blockade, and threaten death and genocide to Jews.

I have seen Jew hatred rising exponentially in the last decade. Growing up hearing stories of how our family hid in forests to avoid being taken to the death camps during the Holocaust, I was very aware of how quickly things can turn. On Oct 7th, the powder keg exploded. The last two-plus years have changed me completely.

While music has been my life-long passion, the post-10/7 world has ignited in me an equal or greater passion for being Jewish, raising a proudly Jewish family, and fighting for the Jewish people. There is nothing more important to me now than advocating to ensure a better future. I cannot rest until I know I did everything I could to inspire, educate, and empower our people, and make the world a better place for my daughter and for future generations of Jews. As a descendent of Holocaust survivors, and the son-in-law of an Israeli who fought in the Six Day War, I fully understand that Never Again is NOW.