Geddy Lee, bassist/vocalist/keyboardist for the Canadian progressive rock trio and 2013 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Rush, posted on Instagram today (January 27, 2026) to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The only surviving photo of my grandfather – Gershon Eliezer Rubinstein – whom I am named after – In the middle of a winter’s night in 1940 he was dragged from his home in Wierzbnik Poland, at gunpoint, thrown into jail, then sent to his death at Treblinka Concentration Camp. His crime ?
Being a Jew.
In November 2023, shortly after the Israel-Hamas War started, I wrote an op-ed titled “Why Evangelicals Love Israel and Progressives Do Not.” Quoting from that post (and making a grammatical correction from the original):
A keen interest in eschatology, the study and interpretation of Scripture regarding Christ’s Second Coming, has long been a cornerstone of the evangelical movement. Related to this, although not necessarily coupled initially with it, was a complete reevaluation of Christianity’s complex and ofttimes horrific relationship with Judaism. For example, when one of the first, if not the first, things that come to mind when contemplating the Roman Catholic Church and Judaism over the centuries is the Spanish Inquisition, one quickly understands why the 16th century Council of Trent’s declaration that the belief of Jewish participation in deicide regarding Jesus’ death on the cross, under which Jews had previously suffered persecution, was utterly in error gets short shrift.
Back to 20th, now 21st-century evangelism. From its inception, the evangelistic church has viewed Jews as God’s chosen people in need of being told the Gospel without intimidation or prejudice. The evangelistic church has universally heralded Christians who stood in direct opposition to the Holocaust, be they martyrs such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer or survivors such as Corrie ten Boom.
Back in 1986, Rush released the album “Grace Under Pressure.” Among its songs was “Red Sector A,” in which the band’s late drummer and lyricist, Neal Peart, managed the almost unimaginable in popular music: addressing the Holocaust in a rock song. It also warrants mention that in Lee’s recent biography, with unsparing detail he discusses the experience of both his mother and father, plus their respective families, in concentration camps during World War Two.
The announcement that Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson, with the blessing of Peart’s family, are going to tour in 2026 with Anika Nilles filling in on drums brings to mind the notion of artists addressing matters of societal importance not as preening preachers screeching to a progressive choir of media sycophants, but from a universal point of historical accuracy. Since the Israel-Hamas war began, we have seen the lamentable rise of antisemitism, poorly disguised as political opposition, rear its ugly, bigoted head time and again on college campuses and among social media noisemakers wishing for consideration as thought leaders. Even more hideous has been the specter of Jew haters attempting to justify their perverted beliefs behind pirated slogans such as “Christ is King” when, were they actually to follow Jesus’ teaching and God’s Word, they would immediately and utterly abandon all elements of antisemitic belief and practices.
Geddy Lee’s Instagram post is a welcome reminder that there are at least some real artists left in the popular music wasteland, ones who are mindful of history and are determined not to let the public forget that art’s true power comes from those who use it as a vessel to communicate truth. Rush is not everyone’s musical cup of tea. That said, truth knows no stylistic or commercial limitations.
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