Six hundred Israelis, including 50 clients of SHEKEL-Community Services for People with Special Needs, performed Imagine Dragons’ hit song “Believer” at the Bascula Arts Center in Tel Aviv on December 10.

The crowd-sing, recorded for the end-of-year Galgalatz radio station hit parade aired on December 18, followed a request for a joint musical project with Galgalatz made by Ariel Nevo, director of SHEKEL College — a SHEKEL program providing accessible enrichment and vocational courses for people with intellectual disabilities.

Galgalatz introduced Nevo to Koolulam, an organization that brings together people from across the Israeli social spectrum for mass singing events. It was a good fit, as SHEKEL works toward inclusion of thousands of people with disabilities into Israeli society.

“Our idea is to stop everything for a few hours and just sing together. Through the sounds, a cooperative chorus of hope and optimism will emerge,” according to a Koolulam statement.

Nevo related that everyone was asked to strike up a conversation with the person on their left. “I watched an animated conversation take place between a person from SHEKEL with disabilities and another singer – I saw the genuine human connection that was forged between them. It exemplified everything SHEKEL stands for and works towards. It was just very moving.”

Nevo told ISRAEL21c that “everyone was smiling, joking and laughing. It was an intense experience, very emotional and uplifting.”

Tal Frenkel-Bendell, SHEKEL’s operations coordinator for enrichment and leisure activities, said one participant initially found the rehearsals difficult and tiring. “But the minute everyone began singing together, something magical happened and that same person who had wilted in the rehearsals turned around with a huge smile and said, ‘This sounds unbelievable! It was worth all the work.’”