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    Posted January 26, 2009 by
    Location
    Brooklyn, New York
    Assignment
    Assignment
    This iReport is part of an assignment:
    Reactions to Mumbai attacks

    "Fallen Angles" One Hassidic Man's Tribute through Music

     

    Flatbush resident Moshe Benasher broke into tears when hearing about Holtzberg's tragic death in Mumbai and did what he knows to do: compose. Even after he wrote Fallen Angels, he debated if to release the song. "You want to mourn and feel the pain, but as a Chassid, you need to move on," he told COLlive.

     

    Like many Chabad Shluchim and Lubavitch Chassidim, Moshe Benasher was glued to the screen, anxiously awaiting news from the once great - and now infamous - Nariman House.

     

    Benasher, 26, whose parents are Chabad Emissaries in New York, had never met Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, nor did he ever visit Nariman House located in Mumbai where the couple operated a high-profile Jewish hub of activities.

     

    On Nov. 26, 2008, when Indian terrorists invaded Nariman House, home to the Chabad House, and took the Holtzbergs and other Jewish people hostage, Benasher was devastated.

     

    From his Flatbush home, surrounded by his wife and three children, he tried to gather bits and pieces of information from outlets like CNN's Indian IBN channel and COLlive.

     

    But when the ordeal came to a tragic end, he broke into tears.

     

    "The only way I could respond was to compose a song about it," Benasher told COLlive. "I sat near the piano and was crying while writing the song.

     

    "You don't want to let go of being sad. You want to mourn and feel the pain. At the same time, however, as a Chassid, you need to move on."

     

    Benasher composed in the past, a musical album called 'Soul Awake.' He calls his new 6 minute song 'Fallen Angels.'

     

    "At one point, I thought to possibly not even release the song. I ended up sending it because I thought that many people don't know how to express in words what they are feeling."

     

    Benasher adds: "The lyrics have even deeper meaning than just the face value. I didn't just use the word angel because it was poetic or because it fit. Angel in Hebrew is malach. Malach is interchangeable with messenger, which means a Shliach."

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Fallen Angels

     

     

    *_Lyrics:_</strong</p>

     

    She closed her eyes

    He wiped her tears

    He said Shema

    It calmed his fears

     

    He held her hand

    Said it'd be alright

    Knowing well they both could lose their life

     

    And as my world watched it on the screen

    We hoped and prayed and prayed again

    That it would be a silent dream

    But the dawn ushered in an unfamiliar light

    The worst was heard confirmed

     

    Now I cry to you, I lean on you,

    my fellow Jew I ask of you

     

    Chorus:

    Tell me how do we say goodbye

    to the angels that have fallen from our life

    And how do we say goodbye

    to the angels that have flown away at night

     

    3500 siblings asking why

    An orphan's forced to cry

    Mommy, Tatty hold my hand

    One day I pray you'll understand

    The cowardly lion is not the king of the land.

    But the question remains, I ask

     

    Chorus:

    Tell me how do we say goodbye

    to the angels that have fallen from our life

    And how do we say goodbye

    to the angels that have flown away at night

     

    Don't judge me when I mourn

    Today it's me who's torn

    Don't look at me

    My tears are falling fast

     

    They say it's all a blessing in disguise

    I can't differentiate the lies from truth

    What's a mind to do

     

    We were the super heroes of the night

    We would illuminate the sky

    They took away the torch but not your flame

    What's my mind to do

    I will never forget you

    I will light the sky from here to Mumbai

    And nothing will ever look the same

     

    Chorus:

    Tell me how do we say goodbye

    to the angels that have fallen from our life

    And how do we say goodbye

    to the angels that have flown away at night

     

    Hasidim Never say goodbye

    We want Moshiach Now

     

     

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