The Blogs: Gilad Segev and the Project Heroes, Part 2

Part 2: The Event, The Vision, The Artistry

Two weeks ago, when I decided to dedicate one of my TOI Blogs to Gilad Segev and Project HEROES, I had no idea that I would be writing another Blog on Gilad and his Project HEROES. But as I typed, I soon understood that I could not do justice, in such a limited space as a Blog, to this amazing artist and his spiritually uplifting Creation. I knew what I had to do, and I promised my Readers that I would dedicate still another piece to an artist, who is a gifted musician and an even more gifted philosopher and student of Humanity.

I have divided this article into three sections: The Event, The Vision, The Artistry.

The Event started out as Gilad’s soul-searching yet artistic response to the Hamas Jihadist October 7, 2023 Massacre and to the death of his IDF hero brother, who fell in battle years before. On the morning of October 7th, 2023, Hamas-led Palestinian armed groups carried out numerous coordinated attacks on civilian residential communities, social events, and Israeli military bases in the area of southern Israel bordering the Gaza Strip. The armed groups attacked at least 19 kibbutzim and 5 moshavim, the cities of Sderot and Ofakim, 2 music festivals, and a beach party. The fighting lasted much of the day and in some cases longer. More than 1,200 men, women and children were slaughtered by Hamas – the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. [1] Girls and women were sexually assaulted. The depravity of Hamas’s crimes is almost unspeakable. Hamas took 254 people hostage that day. They included men, women, young boys, young girls, two babies, and elderly people, from more than 25 nations. Many have been murdered by Hamas in Gaza. Some have died in captivity. Some were released in 2 ceasefire-hostage-terrorist-exchange deals. Some “hostages” were the dead bodies of people killed on October 7th. As of 4 December 2024, 117 hostages had been returned alive to Israel, with 105 released in a prisoner exchange deal, four released by Hamas unilaterally and eight rescued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). As of now, we do not know how many are still alive and how many have died.[2]

As a result of Gilad Segev’s artistic and philosophical genius, this catastrophic Event morphed into a brilliant, beautiful, breathtaking response to the horrors of “this Massacre which never ends” – a new Event called Project HEROES.

I asked myself, and then I asked Gilad, the following questions: how could he look at the horrors of this Massacre and see beyond the atrocities and beyond the carnage, and enter a new dimension in which hope and purpose still exist? How was he able to decipher a message from Hashem? How was he able to find his spiritual and artistic place in this Hamas Hell and create a new Event? What Mission was he able to perceive emanating from the horrors of the October 7^th Massacre? That he was able and willing to talk to me and answer these questions says a lot about the man and the artist.

Project HEROES has a target-specific Mission. According to Gilad, its Mission is “To change the Narrative of the Jewish People from Victimization to Heroism to benefit Humanity.”

This does not mean to revise or rewrite History. It does not mean to rewrite the Jewish Narrative, which is indeed the valid History of the Jewish People from Biblical until Modern Times. It means to define the meaning of the Narrative, to investigate where and when the concept of Jewish Victimization arose and became a part of the Jewish Narrative, and finally to determine how it was injected into the very Soul of the Jewish People from Generation to Generation.

After this, the Mission addresses the question of Heroism: what it means, what it entails, where the flame of Heroism is harbored within the Jewish Soul, how to reach it and draw it forth, and finally how and why Jewish Heroism is supposed to benefit Humanity.

Once these steps have been taken and an understanding of the Narrative has been reached, then, those whose hands hold the changing of the Narrative of Jewish Victimization to Heroism to benefit Humanity, must continue to create the Programs destined to bring this Mission to Realization.

Project HEROES with its Commemoration Concert is the new Event. It has its Mission. I have great admiration for this singer-songwriter, musician, author, and travel documentarian. Why? Interestingly, Gilad Segev has correctly identified and defined the disposition of Jewish students today as one of Victimization. His “Project HEROES” addresses this with music, art, spirituality and examples drawn from real life and not with dry, academic analysis. “Project HEROES” reaches deep into the essence of the students, guiding them, helping them, and encouraging them to find their own Hero Within. This amazing Program not only offers a road out of Victimization, it gently rebuilds the affected individual’s sense of self-worth and self-esteem and in doing so, strengthens the student’s Jewish identity and understanding and love of Israel. “Project HEROES” has no age or time limit. It is needed in K-12 and higher education. Most important, it is for Jewish students, Jewish teachers also under assault, and Jewish parents, who do not know how to rescue their children from this abyss of despair and hatred, which has engulfed them.

My next question to Gilad was: How do you know how to direct and guide the intellect and emotions of total strangers, with whom you have limited or no relations? I did not have the answer to this question, but I had an instinct pushing me toward it. As I was researching him, I came upon the name Passerby – Gilad’s Stage Name. As I read about it, I wondered if this meant that Gilad Segev were a Passerby through life, always seeking his identity. By this time, Gilad was accustomed to my questions and conversations and so, I just asked him this outright. He patiently explained to me his belief that “you need to lose yourself to find yourself”. I learned that he spent years developing his Passerby Project and took the name Passerby as his Stage Name. As a descendant of immigrants, he undertook to travel to endless, destinations to find his own identity and his own personal truths, both in his music and in his life. His Passerby Project is a multi-cultural platform, designed to incorporate music, visuals, sounds, ideas, people, and places for the purpose of enabling the individual to reach an understanding of his own identity.

I truly believe that the Passerby Project provides the foundation upon which his Project HEROES stands. It was during this transient time that he sought to discover and understand who he was, what music would be his personal style, and what he was destined to do with his music. Without this, I do not think that he would have ever been able to develop the process of transference of identity or philosophy.

The October 7, 2023 Massacre was the impelling force behind Gilad’s decision to follow the Passerby Project, with its multi-cultural global platform, as the model for HEROES. He explained to me that he has utilized all of his experience and expertise to create a new Narrative, based on the Biblical Heroism of the Jewish People but addressed to new generations of young Jews, guiding them on how to identify their Heroism and enable it. When I asked him how this is done, his answer amazed me. The new Narrative is delivered through a multi-content, educational, technological experience, i.e., music videos, concerts and exhibitions, educational programs, documentaries and books. This powerful and innovative format was designed and developed by Gilad and his Team. In my opinion, it is what brings each Hero to Life and immortalizes his Heroism.

I admire how Gilad answered my question on how his Project HEROES, with its three different Programs, helps to change the Narrative of the Jewish People from Victimization to Heroism to benefit Humanity. He said that these Programs show an individual how to reach the Heroism within himself, then they empower him to replace the sense of Victimization, by the realization of Heroism and then instill this process in Humanity. Within the Project HEROES, ordinary people became extraordinary. Gilad explained that ordinary people are individualistic and do not see beyond themselves. From seeing only Self-Victimization, they evolve to find the “Hero Within” to save others from Victimhood.

Project HEROES contains three distinct Programs or Events. The Commemoration Program. The Independence Program. The Hero Within Program.

The Commemoration Program celebrates the Memory of an individual who overcame his own sense of Victimization and reached deep within himself to find the Heroism to save others. This is in effect the Commemoration of the Heroes of the October 7^th Massacre.

The demonization of Israel has instilled a sense of guilt at being Jewish and supporting Israel in the youth in the Diaspora. Gilad correctly believes that we must link this guilt to their sense of Victimization and convey to them how to reach deep within to find the Heroism needed to celebrate their Judaism and Zionism. This is the Mission of the Independence Program and Concert.

In Gilad’s words, right now the hearts of the students revolve around Commemoration. They must pass from the idea of Victimization and Death and move forward to the Heroism. Part of their heart and mind remains in the Past but the rest must move forward to Life.

So, Gilad felt and understood what he had to do. He created the Independence Program and Concert celebrating Israel. He combined some songs from the Commemoration Program and created new songs showcasing the amazing activities which the Heroes did to create an Israel for all of the Jewish People, and to heal, and help Israel. Two differences: these Heroes did heroic acts and are still alive; they come from communities which created the activities to heal Israel. That these heroes are alive is uplifting to the human spirit and motivates the students to reach their Hero Within. For Gilad, Independence leads to Heroism and the transference of the Narrative from Victimization to Heroism.

Gilad Segev is a modest, unassuming genius whose talent, voice, intellect, and Soul saw and understood how to create a Project, with three different Programs dedicated to Heroes and to inspiring HEROES in order to save the Jewish People and ultimately Humanity. I am proud to call him my friend.

***To enjoy Gilad Segev’s videos, Google his name and choose his Projects.

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