Oh, Koolulam…how we’ve missed you.

After a long year without mass-singing events, Koolulam is back – just in time for Yom Ha’atzma’ut. At this year’s annual Torch-Lighting ceremony on Mt. Herzl, Koolulam helped the nation transition from Yom HaZikaron to Yom Ha’atzma’ut.

To show appreciation for Israel’s heroes during Coronavirus, the group brought along 300 doctors, nurses, and medical staff. Joining together in song, they performed an inspirational version of Shlomo Artzi’s “Tita’aru Lachem”. The song urges us to imagine a better world than the one we have now. After all, isn’t that what all of us are doing as we foresee an end to the Coronavirus pandemic?

“On Israel’s 73rd Independence Day,” Koolulam wrote on YouTube, “Koolulam gathered around 300 of Israel’s medical crews to salute their bravery with facing Covid-19 and to sing together at the Torch-Lighting Ceremony in Mt. Herzel. With them, we ask to imagine a better world.”

As usual, Koolulam conductor Ben Yefet was the ringleader at center-stage, adding a level of enthusiasm only he can provide. The result is not only breathtaking, it’s also a sign that the world is slowly getting back to normal.

Shira b’tzibbur (public singing) is uplifting and therapeutic. Let’s hope it becomes common once again real soon.