Big Moshe Tzvi, a Breslover Hassid and composer originally from Bnei Brak, says the murder of eight yeshiva boys in Merkaz HaRav "broke his heart." Refusing to allow their memory to dim, he decided to compose a song in their memory and present it to the public.
(To hear the song, click above or here: www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125668)
"I decided that I have to do something in order to ensure that their memory remains alive as long as possible," Moshe Tzvi said. Known in the Jewish music world as "Moshe Tzvi HaGadol" - Big Moshe Tzvi - he brought a CD with a recording of the song to each of the families of the eight murdered boys.
The song is based on the words of the Prophet Jeremiah (31,15-17) about the weeping of the Matriarch Rachel for her descendants and the consequent Divine consolation:
"A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children; they are no more. Thus says G-d: Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for there is a reward for your actions, G-d says: they shall return from the land of the enemy; there is hope for your future, says G-d: your children shall come back to their borders."
The father of one of the eight boys, Ro'i Roth, who lives in Elkanah in northern Shomron, said that the choice of words was "Divinely inspired." He explained that his son had been very connected with prayer - and often went to Rachel's Tomb, just south of Jerusalem, to pray. "One time," Ro'i's father related, "we made a nighttime trip to Rachel's gravesite, and after a few hours, everyone was tired - except for Ro'i, who continued to pray as if he had just arrived."
The composition also includes the names of the eight boys read aloud, followed by a prayer for Divine compassion on Israel.
Another song of Big Moshe Tzvi can be heard here: www.inn.co.il/News/News.aspx/165169
Other Songs
Several others have written songs or poems in the memory of the eight students, including Neriah Madmon of Haresha (an unauthorized community in the Binyamin district of Shomron), Ayalah Eitan of Beit El, and more. The compositions highlight the study of Torah in which the holy victims were engaged when they were gunned down, calls for Divine justice, and more.
A "memorial tent" has been set up at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav, containing modest testimonials to each of the eight murdered boys, mostly teenagers. Many of the more than 1,000 people who took part in Purim festivities at the yeshiva - both in the upper-school Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook and in the Yeshiva LaTze'irim high school - stopped off at the tent on their way in and out of the joyous holiday singing and dancing.