Singer Avraham Tal releases music video post-ZAKA trauma retreat

Renowned Israeli singer Avraham Tal joined ZAKA volunteers in releasing a new music video, “Shema Israel,” this past Sunday, named after the Jewish faith’s most precious prayer.

The song comes after an intense and meaningful process in which Tal accompanied ZAKA volunteers in a retreat targeted at addressing grief and PTSD post-October 7.

ZAKA volunteers and first responders across the board were in desperate need of therapy after the atrocities of the October 7 massacre, which they witnessed firsthand after providing urgent care at multiple locations where terrorists had attacked.

Tal has accompanied these volunteers, even paving the way for establishing a Resilience Unit in ZAKA intended to address the ongoing “emergency routine” within which the volunteers operate to this day.

“In order to start and create a close and intimate connection, I invited the volunteers to sit in my living room,” Tal said. “I met special people who went through unimaginable things, and yet, it was amazing to discover how strong they are.”

The unit organizes psychological treatment, group therapy sessions, and even desert retreats for the medics. Tal joined the most recent retreat, and his participation is included in the new music video.

“One of the most intense conversations I had was with Duby Weissenstern, the CEO of ZAKA,” Tal revealed. “He has faced the worst of things head-on, but his eyes filled with tears in one small moment when he spoke about his own children.”

One ZAKA member, Simcha Greinstein, even told Tal that he was refused treatment by psychologists at first.

“At the beginning, he met with psychologists who refused to treat him after they heard some of the things he experienced and couldn’t deal with the feelings that these experiences aroused in them,” Tal explained.

Tal deeply connected the experiences of ZAKA volunteers — the feeling of duty, the two extremes of trauma and hope — with his song “Shema Israel,” which he composed in the first days of the war with David Broza and Mika Ben Shaul. 

“It felt like the words had already been written,” he explained, referring to the song, which opens with recordings from ZAKA radio communications on October 7.

Two versions of the music video were released. The first features 103-year-old Dova, the oldest Holocaust survivor who was rescued from Ukraine by ZAKA in Europe, as well as Nachman Dickstein and his wife Valery.

Dova was smuggled to Israel in a dangerous operation that included the use of intelligence and local residents in an area that was almost completely occupied by Russia.

When Dova participated in the clip, she blessed the people of Israel, hoping the war would end. The Dicksteins were the ones who rescued her.

“Almost all of the volunteers have experienced or are still experiencing symptoms of PTSD,” said Vered Atzmon Meshulam, head of the new ZAKA Resilience Unit. “We are creating special programs and aim to create a unit to help all first responders. Their memories include life-threatening events, body parts, and a lot of death. Our goal is to reach them before they fall apart altogether.”

ZAKA CEO Weissenstern said that “resilience is a resource, and resources either perish or grow.”

He explained that as Israel faces a new reality altogether, so, too, do the ZAKA medics. “My goal today is to allow first responders to both function in the field and also at home. First responders must have a safe place to scream, shout, and cry to heal.”

This article was written in cooperation with ZAKA