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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Hasidic singer Lipa Schmeltzer's video 'Leiby Forever' pays tribute to slain Brooklyn boy

Hasidic singer Lipa Schmeltzer, also known as the 'Jewish Elvis,'
















A Hasidic singer will release Wednesday a tribute song and music video featuring home movies of a slain 8-year-old Brooklyn boy.

The Daily News got a sneak peek at "Leiby Forever," a seven-minute song penned and performed by Lipa Schmeltzer, also known as the "Jewish Elvis."

"Leiby represents a message," Schmeltzer said. "We couldn't find Leiby alive. But there are so many people alive who are still lost. Fathers without jobs. Kids without food. We need to make the world a happier place."

Leiby Kletzky was killed last month after a man snatched him off the street. The boy was dismembered and his feet found in the freezer of accused butcher Levi Aron.

The medical examiner's office said last month that Leiby died of acute intoxication from a mix of Tylenol and three prescription drugs - a painkiller, a muscle relaxer and an anti-psychotic medicine. A spokeswoman for the office said yesterday that investigators also found a fifth drug - Cymbalta, a depression medication.

The opening scene shows Leiby walking down 44th St. in Borough Park on grainy surveillance video. Schmeltzer sings: "A boy was heading home in the afternoon. When he reached his home in heaven, he arrived there all too soon."

Then a montage of Leiby's short life plays including shots of the boy as a toddler downing an ice cream cone, and in December, lighting Chanukah candles on his synagogue's menorah.

TopJewishMusic.com is selling the song for $3.99 per download. The song will also be available today on iTunes and at Jewish music stores in Brooklyn. A portion of the sales from "Leiby Forever" will go to the Leiby Kletzky Memorial Fund.

"It shows a spiritual message that people need to come together," Schmeltzer said. "The same way people came together to search for little Leiby."

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