‘One people, with one heart’
KooLuLam stirs the audience into song in Livingston
Awesome. Amazing. Electric. Energetic.
Those are just a few of the words that people used to describe “Raise Your Voice in Song for Israel,” an event at Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston last week that featured a KooLuLam-led sing-along.
An Israeli-based musical experience, KooLuLam was founded in 2017 to build bridges and harmony through song, and that’s exactly what some 700 people did on April 21 as they ushered in Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, by learning harmonies to the 1972 classic “Lean on Me.”
Among the participants were 16-year-old Eitan Cohen, his twin brother, Avi, their mother, Randi, and two friends. The boys didn’t know they were going to a sing-along until they stepped into the sanctuary, but they were game.
As Eitan said when he learned about the singing aspect of the program, “I’m not a singer, but I’ll give it my best. I think it will get everyone involved and engaged.” To which his brother quipped that Eitan has “some pipes” for singing.
Speaking after the event, Eitan said, “My favorite part was everyone coming together to sing at the end, bringing everything together. I definitely felt a part of Am Yisrael during the program and felt the collective spirit.”
Avi noted that it was important to come out and show that “we are a part of the community, that we are a strong community.”
With flashing spotlights and jumbo screens displaying the words of the song and musical accompaniment, the audience at B’nai Abraham was divided into three sections. Each group learned a different part or harmony of the song in English — and in Hebrew. The latter did trip up a few people, but an English transliteration of the words appeared beside the Hebrew. Along the way, as they practiced the song again and again, people swayed, clapped, jumped, hugged, and linked arms over the shoulders of friends and neighbors.
Speaking between singing sessions, KooLuLam member and the evening’s conductor, Dor Kaminka, told the crowd that “Lean on Me,” originally written by singer Bill Withers, was specifically chosen for the event, in part because no Jew is ever truly alone. (The other KooLuLam performers for the evening were Paul Zhao, Andrew Weir, and Mike Benigno.)
True to KooLuLam’s goals of building community through song, Kaminka encouraged several icebreakers during the program, asking participants to introduce themselves to someone sitting near them who they didn’t already know.
While Ellen Berkowitz of Livingston has attended KooLuLam events before, she was still excited about the evening. “I love it,” she said. “It brings the community together to celebrate Israel together” in joy “and we all need some joy.”
Simon Kelner and his wife, Sabrina, of Westfield both have lived in Israel. They went to the event because “It’s Yom Ha’Atzmaut,” Mr. Kelner said. “We’ve been to KooLuLam before, in Englewood, and we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate Yom Ha’Atzmaut in New Jersey.”
The evening was sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest, along with the Murnick family and Terri and Michael Goldberg. It began with a ceremony to mark the end of Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism. At the beginning of the evening, the names of people who were lost during Israel’s wars scrolled on the screens as the audience found their seats.
Going off script, Meredith Dragon, federation CEO and executive vice president, asked members of the audience who had served in the Israel Defense Forces or had children in the IDF to stand and be recognized. Among those standing were the parents of a lone soldier and a woman whose son-in-law is in the reserves and has been called up several times since the Hamas-led terror attacks on October 7.
Rabbi David Vaisberg, the senior rabbi at B’nai Abraham, recited the El Maleh Rachamim prayer in Hebrew as the synagogue’s associate rabbi, Max Edwards, said it in English. A prayer for the wellbeing of Israeli soldiers was also recited in both Hebrew and English.
A participant who asked not to be named said the program captured the significance of Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut flowing together as Israel doesn’t have the “luxury of separating grief from gratitude.”
“Israel is here forever because we are here,” she said. “One people, with one heart.”