RUSH’s GEDDY LEE: ‘There Are Danger Signs All Over The World Right Now, And That Worries Me A Lot’

In a new interview with Lisa Desjardins of PBS NewsHour‘s arts and culture series “Canvas”, RUSH bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, whose parents survived Nazi concentration camps, was asked for his opinion on the tension now between free speech and rising hate that we see all over the world. He said: “People are smart. People should be able to discuss things. The death of discourse is not good for the human race. It’s not good for improving things. It’s through discourse and through educating each other about the things that are important to have a good, safe, peaceful life. That cannot go away. And when you see that starting to happen, it scares me — it really scares me a lot. And I am put in mind of what was going on in Germany before World War II. There are danger signs all over the world right now, and that worries me a lot.”

Last month, Geddy explained to CBC News‘ The National why he and his RUSH bandmate Alex Lifeson wanted to publicly speak out about the deadly conflict triggered by Palestinian group Hamas‘s shock attack on Israel.

In response to Palestinian militants in Gaza firing a deadly barrage of rockets and sending gunmen into Israeli territory, Israel launched strikes on what it called Hamas targets in Gaza.

On October 13, RUSH released the following statement via social media: “We are sickened by news of the brutal atrocities and monstrous acts of cold-blooded murder committed by the terrorist group Hamas – an organization dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state and the extermination of its people. Our hearts break for the people of Israel and for Jews around the world as they process these horrible events. These are dark acts of barbarism for which there can be no justification. Our hearts also go out to all innocent souls in Gaza that have lost their lives, been injured or put in jeopardy as a result of the actions of this inhuman terrorist regime.”

Asked by The National‘s Ian Hanomansing why RUSH wanted to publicly comment to clearly and unequivocally denounce Hamas’s violent attacks against civilians and express their anguish at the bloodshed in both Gaza and Israel, Lee said: “Well, it was a hurtful, terrible moment in modern history and speaking out as a human being that happened to be a Jewish person — this happened to Jewish people — so both Alex and I felt it was important to express the pain we were feeling watching this, what could be arguably called one of the worst massacres since World War II of the Jewish people.”

He continued: “It’s a complicated issue. I am not a person that wants to be a spokesman, spokesperson for Israeli politics; it’s not really about that. It was just a natural crying out of, ‘Wow. This is a terrible thing we’re watching.’ And it’s still terrible to watch.”

In a 2009 interview with Heeb magazine, Lee described himself as an atheist. “I consider myself a Jew as a race, but not so much as a religion,” he explained. “I’m not down with religion at all. I’m a Jewish atheist, if that’s possible… I celebrate the holidays in the sense that my family gets together for the holidays and I like being a part of that. So I observe the ‘getting together’ aspect.”

Lee‘s Jewish mom, Mary Weinrib, who passed away in July 2021, was not only a massive supporter of her son’s music career but was also a Holocaust survivor.

Geddy, who was born Gary Lee Weinrib in 1953 in Toronto, reportedly took on his stage (and later, legal) name as an homage to his mother: her strong accent made “Gary” sound like “Geddy,” and the name stuck.