His mother's family came from Chisināu. Netsky is a sessional lecturer at McGill University and has taught at Hampshire College, Wesleyan University, and Hebrew College. His essays on Jewish music have been published by the University of California Press, the University of Pennsylvania Press, the University of Scranton Press, Hips Roads, Indiana University Press, and the University Press of America, and Temple University Press published his book Klezmer, Music and Community in 20th Century Jewish Philadelphia in 2015. Dr. Netsky is on the faculty of Silk Road's Global Musician Workshop and performs regularly with violinist and vocalist Eden MacAdam-Somer, gospel singer Janice "Octavia" Allen,cantor George Mordecai, and in former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky's "PoemJazz" project. He served as vice president for education at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., and has been a key figure in Jewish cultural education workshops, including Klezkamp, KlezKanada, Paper Bridge, Yidstock, Aleph Ordination Week, Meah, and Circle Lodge. He received the Yosl Mlotek Award and a"Forward Fifty" award for his role ni the resurgence of traditional Eastern European Jewish ethnic musical culture. He was also awarded a New England Conservatory Outstanding Alumni award, along with the school's Louis Krasner and Lawrence Lesser awards for Excellence in Teaching.