Geddy Lee marked Holocaust Remembrance Day with a personal Instagram post that linked family history, Rush’s music, and the continued duty to remember. His message, and the band’s past work, remind listeners that art can carry historical truth and that public memory matters in the face of rising antisemitism. This article looks at Lee’s post, Rush’s engagement with the Holocaust in song, and the broader cultural backdrop in which this reminder landed. It keeps the original quotes intact and places the preserved embeds where they belong.
Geddy Lee, best known as Rush’s bassist, vocalist, and keyboardist, used Instagram on January 27, 2026 to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day with a deeply personal statement. He tied his family story to a broader moral point, showing how personal history can cut through abstract debate. Lee’s post lives in the same artistic tradition that led Rush to tackle hard topics on record decades ago.
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.
Writing in November 2023, one commentator linked evangelical support for Israel to a reexamination of Christianity’s troubled history with Judaism and quoted a published op-ed titled “Why Evangelicals Love Israel and Progressives Do Not.” That piece argued that evangelicals view Jews as God’s chosen people and that modern evangelistic movements rejected the religiously based antisemitism that once plagued Christian institutions. The quoted passage notes that evangelicals have honored those who resisted the Holocaust, citing figures like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Corrie ten Boom.
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.
Rush confronted the Holocaust directly on the 1984 album Grace Under Pressure with the song “Red Sector A,” a rare example of popular rock addressing genocide with care and gravity. The band’s late drummer and lyricist Neal Peart crafted lyrics that avoided sensationalism while calling attention to real suffering. Beyond the song, Lee has spoken openly about the wartime experience of his parents and extended family in concentration camps, bringing that history into public view.
The announcement that Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson will tour in 2026 with Anika Nilles filling in on drums, and with Peart’s family’s blessing, sparked conversations about the role of artists in public life. Artists can push historical memory into the mainstream, not as moralizing celebrities but as creators holding truth up to their audiences. That kind of leadership is increasingly important when public debate about Israel and antisemitism turns toxic on college campuses and online.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began, incidents of antisemitism have surged in some quarters, often couched as political critique but steeped in ancient prejudice. Public figures and artists who remember and recount familial or historical experience help push back against that tendency. Lee’s willingness to make his grandfather’s story visible demonstrates how a musician’s platform can be used to preserve difficult facts.
Art that confronts atrocity does a service by insisting the public look at evidence and not slogans. Rush’s body of work and Lee’s post are reminders that history is not a political prop but a human record. When musicians treat memory seriously, they create moments that can correct ignorance and resist the casualization of hatred.
Geddy Lee’s post is not grandstanding; it’s a personal record of loss and a public nudge to remember why such history matters. The band’s upcoming tour will bring those memories into contemporary conversations about culture and responsibility. In an era of noisy commentary, grounded artistic statements like this keep historical truth from being drowned out.
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