Jacob “Spike” Kraus, “Ki Eshmera Shabbat”
New York, NY
Age: 25
Song: “Ki Eshmera Shabbat”
Jacob Spike Kraus is an up and coming singer-songwriter from Boston. He released his first secular studio EP, The King’s Beanie EP, in the spring of 2013, and his first full-length studio album, Shake Off The Dust, in April 2015. Currently based out of Astoria, NY, Jacob is in his third year as the Assistant Director of Youth Engagement at Temple Sinai of Roslyn, where he also serves as the Music Director. He has been song leading for over a decade at synagogues, day schools, and summer camps. He was the Head Songleader at URJ Eisner Camp for several summers and currently serves as Head Songleader at the URJ Kutz Camp. He graduated from Muhlenberg College in the spring of 2013 with a degree in Music Performance. A member of the Jewish A Cappella group Six13, JSK believes in music’s power as a community-builder. He travels the country singing with communities and using Jewish music as a tool to educate and engage the next generation of Jews.
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
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