May 22, 2025
Last night in Washington, DC, two young Israeli embassy staff members—Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, a couple about to become engaged—were gunned down outside the Capital Jewish Museum by a shooter who chanted “Free Palestine” as he was arrested. Both were dedicated longtime peacebuilders – indeed, Sarah wrote her graduate thesis on “the role of friendships in the Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding process.”
The same day, at least 82 people were killed during Israeli military operations in Gaza—part of an escalation that has claimed hundreds of lives in recent weeks, including three children from the Tlaib family who were sleeping with their parents in a tent in Gaza City when Israeli warplanes struck “without warning and without [these children] having done anything wrong,” according to their grandfather.
These horrific acts of violence—each representing unfathomable loss—are not isolated incidents, but symptoms of an accelerating spiral of zero-sum political violence that is consuming us all. When we dehumanize “the other,” when we allow pain to justify more pain, when we choose revenge over relationship, we perpetuate a cycle that will ultimately devour everyone it touches. Whether the violence unfolds on the streets of Washington or in the neighborhoods of Gaza, it feeds the same destructive force that thrives on division and despair.
It is precisely in these darkest moments that the work of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus becomes not just important, but urgent—perhaps more urgent than ever before. Our Palestinian and Israeli singers know intimately the weight of this violence; each of them has been touched by loss, fear, and grief. Yet they continue to choose each other. They continue to choose the radical act of singing together, of looking into each other’s eyes, of refusing to let the loudest voices around them define their future. They understand something that the cycle of violence depends on us forgetting: that our fates are intertwined, that my liberation is bound up with yours, and that there is another way forward if we have the courage to choose it.
Watch “An Ode to All We’ve Lost”, JYC’s heartfelt tribute to all whom we have lost and to the shared future in which we unwaveringly believe.
Meet us on the Frontlines of Hope
You’ve heard us say many times now that JYC isn’t stopping, but rather increasing, our work and programming on the ground in Jerusalem. We’d like to offer reassurance that our upcoming US tour from May 26 – June 5 will continue as planned, and we will provide increased security for our forward-thinking series of events, including powerful in-person and livestreamed concerts, intimate storytelling, a dialogue workshop, and a musical-culinary journey from fear to hope.
We hope you’ll join us, virtually or in person, to demonstrate that supporting JYC is an act of hope—and a declaration that peace is still possible. By standing with our singers, you amplify their voices, support their bravery, and help build a world where understanding triumphs over hatred. Now more than ever, their harmony needs to be heard.
May 26 – 29: New York City
Performances at the Seeds of Peace and Manhattan JCC Galas
May 29th: An Intimate Concert on the Upper West Side
This special evening is not just an opportunity to meet our singers personally but a vitally-important fundraiser to power their work together.
Because the power of JYC’s network is incredibly strong, we’re asking you, our global family, to please forward this invitation to friends in New York who may be inspired to support our work in Jerusalem.
May 31: Boulder, CO
Mt. View UMC
7:00pm Concert
8:30pm VIP Reception
June 1: Denver, CO
Park Hill UMC
2:30pm Dialogue Workshop
4:00pm Concert (LIVESTREAMED)
5:30pm VIP Reception
| June 3: Washington, DC St. Columba’s Episcopal Church 7:00pm Concert 8:30pm VIP Reception |
| June 4: Washington, DC Levine Music 7:00pm Community Sing |
| June 5: Washington, DC Performance at Meridian Culturefix Taste of a Shared Future: A Musical-Culinary Journey 5:30pm | 8:00pm at Nabiha DC |
We cannot allow this spiral to continue unchecked. Every act of violence, every moment we turn away from our shared humanity, every time we choose the familiar comfort of “us versus them,” we take another step toward a future where peace becomes not just unlikely, but unimaginable. But our singers refuse to accept that future. Through music and dialogue, through the simple yet profound act of Palestinian and Israeli teenagers singing in harmony, they are modeling the alternative. They are proving that even in the face of unthinkable loss, another path remains possible.
Come listen. Come witness. Come be part of the movement.
Because when young voices sing from the frontlines of hope, the world listens.
With hope and harmony,
Micah, Amer, Jackie, and the Jerusalem Youth Chorus