Jewish musician Mikey Pauker said he never imagined that believing in Israel’s right to exist would cost him performance opportunities — or expose him to years of harassment and threats. But in recent months, Pauker said that is exactly what has happened.
In December, Pauker was removed from a scheduled sound-healing performance following an Ecstatic Dance event in Nevada City, California, after what he describes as an escalating campaign of intimidation tied to his Jewish identity and his identification as a Zionist. The cancellation came just 1 day after his sold-out Hanukkah concert in the same town, and echoed a similar cancellation campaign last year at Harbin Hot Springs, also justified by organizers as a “security concern.”
Pauker, who is studying to become both a rabbi and a cantor at the Academy of Jewish Religion in New York, grounds his music and spiritual work in Jewish liturgy, theology and communal practice. He said the backlash began years earlier, after a fellow musician learned that he was Jewish.
“The person started targeting me about four years ago,” Pauker said. “One of the first things they asked me was whether I support circumcision. Then they began spreading rumors that I support genital mutilation.”
Despite a formal cease-and-desist letter sent several years ago, Pauker said the harassment continued and intensified after Oct. 7, 2023. He shared messages in which the person referred to him as “Zionist scum of the earth” and accused Judaism of “breeding terrorism, white supremacy and domination.”
As Pauker prepared for a Northern California Hanukkah tour in December — with concerts scheduled in San Rafael and Nevada City — he claimed that this musician and activists affiliated with Nevada City for Palestine launched a public campaign calling for his cancellation. A flyer circulated urging people to “Cancel the Zionist Mikey Pauker,” and community members were encouraged to pressure venues hosting his performances.
The effort ultimately failed. Both concerts sold out, and no protest materialized. Pauker said members of the local Jewish and Israeli community showed up in force, relieved to see the events go forward.
But the following day, Pauker was informed that he had been removed from the Ecstatic Dance Nevada City lineup by event producers. The stated reason, he said, was concern for his safety — despite the fact that Pauker had told organizers he felt safe and had already arranged for professional security the night before due to threats. The organizer said he is welcome to attend as a guest.
“If this was really about my safety, why would I be safer as a participant than as the artist?” Pauker asked. “That logic doesn’t hold. The community knows who I am.”
Pauker said he received a text from the producer saying, “Someone made a post under the flyer for next week and they called you a Zionist.”
Pauker then asked to jump on a call with the producer and asked her if she knew what is the meaning of a being a Zionist. “She had “googled Zionism” and concluded that it had nothing to do with Judaism, while accusing Israel of genocide and occupation,” said Pauker.
Pauker said he tried to explain that Zionism is not a political slogan but the right for self-determination. “I said to her, you know you could disagree with the Israeli government and that doesn’t make you antizionist, but calling for the destruction of the only Jewish state is antisemitic.”
Pauker said the pattern feels painfully familiar. In December 2024, he was also removed from a Hanukkah concert at Harbin Hot Springs, again under the rationale of security concerns stemming not from his actions, but from threats directed at him.
“These situations follow the same pattern,” Pauker said. “Instead of addressing harassment or standing up to intimidation, institutions remove the Jewish artist and label it safety. That framing has a long and dangerous history.”
Pauker is now a plaintiff in a federal civil rights lawsuit against Harbin Hot Springs and its leadership, alleging religious discrimination. Central to the case is the argument that Zionism is not a detachable political opinion, but an intrinsic element of Jewish religious identity, peoplehood and historical connection to the land of Israel. The lawsuit challenges what Pauker and his legal team see as a growing trend: excluding Jews from public and cultural spaces by redefining essential aspects of Jewish identity as controversial or optional.
“If ‘security concerns’ can be used to justify removing Jews rather than confronting those who threaten them,” Pauker said, “then civil rights protections are being hollowed out in real time.”
Following the Ecstatic Dance cancellation, Jewish residents in Nevada City and nearby Grass Valley publicly expressed alarm, with many saying the decision made them feel unwelcome and unsafe in a space that claims to be inclusive. Hundreds of comments appeared online, with community members speaking out – many for them for the first time – about enduring antisemitism quietly for years.
Pauker said the financial toll of being canceled was significant. He estimates that he lost more than $50,000 in income due to festival cancellations, lost merchandise sales and withdrawn performance opportunities. “For a couple of years, things were really hard,” Pauker said. “After Harbin happened last year, and before the lawsuit, I was really depressed. I felt like no one cared anymore.”
Yet in an unexpected turn, the months following Oct. 7, 2023 marked a dramatic shift. While antisemitic attacks against him intensified, so did demand for his work — particularly within Jewish communities. “Since Oct. 7 started, I’m actually doing way better,” Pauker said. “Jewish communities are bringing me out — some for speaking about what I’ve been dealing with, some for performances, some for keynotes at conferences.”
Pauker is optimistic about 2026 and his calendar is fuller than it has been in years. He is scheduled to headline a Jewish music festival in Northern California and will be traveling to synagogues across the country to sing, lead prayer and share his story. “We’re going to play more shows this year than we have in the last three years,” he said. “I honestly can’t even tell you how many gigs we have lined up.”
While the losses were painful, Pauker said the support he has received has been deeply affirming. “Things are moving in a very positive direction,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speak up about antisemitism — but it does mean that, for me, something powerful came out of a very dark time.”
Pauker continues to tour nationally, lead prayer and healing gatherings and work across Jewish and interfaith communities. On the fourth night of Hanukkah, Dec. 17, he released a new song, “Shema (listen),” a contemporary Jewish chant in collaboration with The Human Experience, (aka David Block), Chava Mirel, Melita and Benjy Wertheimer. “People really love it, and it’s one of my most successful releases so far.”
“I’m not going to disappear,” Pauker said. “I’m going to keep showing up — as a Jew, as a Zionist and as an artist.”
