Children at Jewish schools in the United States sing "David Melech Yisrael," with its corresponding hand movements.
Children in the Sderot region sing about rocket alerts.
The song, "Red Color," named for the tzeva adom alerts that let residents know of an incoming Kassam rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, was created to help keep children calm while they seek shelter.
When a tzeva adom alarm would sound, children tended to start crying while they ran to the shelter, says psychologist Shai Hen-Gal. "We teach the children how to react with a song" that includes breathing and stretching exercises.
The project was piloted by Ashalim, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee's children's division in Israel, as part of the United Jewish Communities' Israel Emergency Campaign.
Taught to some 100 kindergartners this past school year, the "Red Color" project will be brought to some 2,000 students this fall.
"Hurry hurry hurry to a safe place/Hurry hurry hurry because it's dangerous," the children sing as they run to their safe place
"My heart is beating ‹ boom boom boom," they sing as they cross their arms and pound their chest on each "boom."
The song continues, ending, accompanied by corresponding movements, with, "We shake our body ‹ shake, shake, shake. Š We will blow in deep/We will blow out as far as possible/We will blow in deep/We can laugh/It's all gone/And I feel good it's over/Yessss!," as they raise their hands in triumph.
The children, according to the psychologists, no longer shouted and pushed each other once they were involved in the song and its movements.
The effort is one of a number of therapeutic projects that Ashalim began piloting in the past year. Another project, this one in the North, involved art therapy to help young children process their experiences during the war. ‹ Debra Rubin
