In this episode of The Jewish futurism Lab, I share how the Hineni Project carried me from the shock of October 7 into a deeply personal relationship with one family in Israel: the family of Bar Shechter z”l, a young father and psy‑trance DJ murdered at the Nova music festival. Hineni means “Here I am” in Hebrew, a word that speaks to radical presence and spiritual readiness, and it became the frame for how I showed up as an artist, friend, and witness.
I talk about growing up in the Israeli‑diaspora in‑between space, meeting Bar through his music and his loved ones, painting his portrait in my studio, and how that canvas grew into a dream of a community mural on a wall in his hometown of Katzir. Along the way we explore Jewish grief, memory, and what it means to say “Hineni, here I am” again and again through art, even when nothing can fix the loss.