{"id":247,"date":"2025-10-25T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerusalemyouthchorus.org\/blog\/?p=247"},"modified":"2026-03-06T18:23:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T18:23:56","slug":"a-new-voice-joins-our-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerusalemyouthchorus.org\/blog\/a-new-voice-joins-our-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Voice Joins Our Movement!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October 25, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dear JYC Family,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These past two years have tested all of us \u2014 and the horrors continue, with Israeli strikes in Gaza killing 100 people just yesterday and no sense of what the political future holds.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, amid so much grief and suffering, small moments of connection have felt revolutionary, as I\u2019m reminded that peace is not a single event, but a practice \u2014 one our singers embody every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m\u00a0JoJo Drake Kalin,<\/strong>\u00a0a marketing magic-maker and digital wordsmith whose work bridges people, purpose, and possibility through story \u2014 and JYC\u2019s newest team member, serving as our\u00a0Narrative Strategist & Storytelling Architect<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How I became connected with the chorus is a story unto itself. After working quietly behind the scenes these past few months, I\u2019m excited to officially introduce myself \u2014 and\u00a0share my story<\/strong>\u00a0with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JoJo with members of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus during the Canada tour.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Prologue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past spring, I survived<\/strong> the May 21<\/strong> antisemitic terrorist attack at the Capital Jewish Museum here in D.C., an event I helped shape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I architected its theme as \u201cTurning Pain into Purpose\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 a deliberate counter to the \u201cus versus them\u201d narrative that had plagued us since October 7. The evening centered on humanitarian diplomacy and featured a panel spotlighting a coalition of Israelis and Palestinians, led by the MultiFaith Alliance. The discussion? Their work to deliver aid to Gaza and build fragile trust across divides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had gathered there, that night, to turn pain into purpose, then gunshots shattered our peace. The pain multiplied<\/strong>. The stakes deepened. (You can read more about that night and my story in this Moment Magazine feature<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the aftermath, I\u2019ve been learning what psychologists call post-traumatic growth<\/strong> \u2014 the art of bouncing forward, not back; not in spite of the trauma, but through it. For me, that meant recommitting to the very work that evening was meant to celebrate \u2014 bridge-building, interfaith work, and dialogue across divides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That journey led me here \u2014 to JYC, where every day I get to this hardship into harmony and hope. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Meet Cute<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less than two weeks after that life-changing May attack, my mother-in-law forwarded me an email (not much different than the one you\u2019re reading now) about a\u00a0JYC concert\u00a0<\/strong>quietly happening in a D.C. church. The performance wasn\u2019t publicized for safety reasons. Desperately searching for healing and mean-making in the aftermath of my trauma, I went.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How had I not heard of this group before?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I found there felt like oxygen: Israeli and Palestinian youth singing together in Hebrew, Arabic, and English \u2014 their\u00a0harmonies rising beneath stained glass.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a city still trembling from violence \u2014 and reverberating from the antisemitic Molotov cocktail attack in Boulder earlier that week \u2014 that sound was\u00a0a healing balm for the heart<\/strong>, a salve for the soul.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I stood in the back, a blubbering puddle, realizing I was witnessing exactly what I\u2019d been yearning for: proof that\u00a0what the world insists is impossible is possible<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Jerusalem Youth Chorus performing at the \u201cFront Lines of Hope\u201d concert in Washington, D.C.\u2014where JoJo first encountered their harmony and hope in action.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Immediately after the show, I thanked Micah and told him how healing the concert was. He met me with such empathy for what I\u2019d just experienced \u2014 a testament to his leadership and heart. At the reception, I also met Amer, Jackie, and several of the singers, and got a glimpse into the soul of JYC \u2014 and the\u00a0exciting growth moment<\/strong>\u00a0it was entering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the heels of America\u2019s Got Talent and TED, JYC\u2019s growing visibility called for a more intentional communications strategy<\/strong> \u2014 one that could honor the core mission while scaling its reach responsibly, with the safety and dignity of our singers always at the forefront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having spent my career helping movements and media projects find their voice<\/strong> \u2014 from Alzheimer\u2019s awareness campaigns (HFC) to social-impact documentaries (Public Defender \/ Spark Media) \u2014 the alignment felt instant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks later, in mid-June, I joined the team<\/strong> to help JYC keep telling its story to the world \u2014 safely, strategically, and with heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Road Together in Toronto<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not long after joining the team, I had the chance to go on tour with the chorus <\/strong>in Toronto. On our From Olive Trees to Maple<\/strong> Leaves tour, I got a front-row seat watching our singers live the harmony they sing about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I experienced the transformative <\/strong>nature of being in the chorus \u2014 how it forges connection and friendship in real time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I didn\u2019t think I could be more moved than I was at that first concert \u2014 but seeing the chorus behind the scenes<\/strong>, in rehearsals, on tour buses, and during Toronto excursions, left me even more awestruck than before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps most moving of all, they toured together on the two-year milestone of October 7<\/strong>, which for me, felt nothing short of a miracle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the world once again braced for grief, these Israeli and Palestinian teens chose to stand side by side, raising their voices for peace. Each concert became both remembrance and renewal \u2014 proof that harmony can hold heartbreak<\/strong>, and that even in fractured times, connection is still possible when we choose to listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, it wasn\u2019t a miracle at all! What our singers managed to navigate that week was and is only possible because empathy is a muscle<\/strong> \u2014 one JYC\u2019s dialogue and educational programming<\/strong> helps our singers strengthen week after week. They\u2019ve spent the time honing their craft, not just musically, but empathetically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When that fateful date arrived, I \u2014 like the rest of the chorus \u2014 was rather emotionally dysregulated. But I joined the singers in rehearsal anyway<\/strong>, warming up with them, singing Home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With each note I sang and each glance shared with the singers, I could literally feel the joy welling up within me. Singing with them got me out of my head and into my body \u2014 present in the moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was then I understood (on a visceral level,) why the singers keep coming back, and why their parents voted unanimously to keep going after October 7. The world needs this work now more than ever. But beyond that, singing in the chorus is medicine<\/strong> \u2014 for them, and, as I learned, for all of us. It\u2019s mindfulness in action \u2014 something research even backs up<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During one of the warm-ups on tour, I laughed with a Palestinian singer sitting beside me. We hadn\u2019t been able to connect much before; our conversations stalled under the weight of language barriers. But in that moment, through rhythm and breath, we circumnavigated the difference. We spoke through song<\/strong> \u2014 and for the first time, truly understood each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yet again, I experienced the magic of JYC in real time and I realized it isn\u2019t magic at all; it\u2019s simply the power of music<\/strong> to transcend differences. Creating art together in real time sparks connection, deepens relationships, and builds bonds across cultures, even for two people who can barely speak to one another otherwise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cross-cultural friendships<\/strong>, after all, play a vital role in peacebuilding. Sarah Milgrim<\/strong>, one of the lives lost in the May 21 DC attack, devoted her final master\u2019s research to this very subject \u2014 and dedicated her life to forging friendships across divides. On tour, I watched those very friendships take shape before my eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while I can\u2019t bring her back, by working with JYC, I can honor her legacy<\/strong>. The chorus is the living embodiment of what she \u2014 and so many others \u2014 have studied: the radical, everyday power of connection to transform pain into a new reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be the Reason a Singer Can Compose a New Reality<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\" When I joined the chorus on tour, I felt what our singers feel every week: harmony that can hold heartbreak.\u00a0That\u2019s what your gift sustains<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 the transformation that happens one voice, one friendship, one song at a time.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Your support makes it possible for our singers to<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n