Eliyahu Berenshtein, 19: Oldest of 10 was ‘magical’ musical autodidact
Murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7
Eliyahu Yaakov Berenshtein, 19, from Jerusalem, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7.
He attended the rave with a group of friends, and when the rocket fire began he and his friend Avraham Neriya Cohen, an off-duty IDF soldier, fled via car and were ambushed and shot dead along the highway by a cell of Hamas terrorists. Eliyahu was considered missing for a week until his body was located and identified.
Eliyahu, who was deeply artistic and involved in music, was part of the festival production team — his very last Instagram post was in late September, hyping the Supernova festival and its “lineup with a variety of artists from the best labels,” which he wrote would guarantee “a night of psychedelia and sounds that won’t give you a moment’s rest.”
Eliyahu was buried in Jerusalem on October 15. He is survived by his parents, Hadassah and Avida, and his nine younger siblings.
Eliyahu grew up in a Haredi family who lived first in Tel Aviv and then later in Jerusalem, but already in his early teens he rebelled against the path that was expected of him, and sought a different lifestyle. His family thought the move to Jerusalem when he was in 8th grade would help, they said, but there was no stopping Eliyahu from seeking his own path.
He was talented in music and art, and in the last years of his life he greatly explored his musical passions, teaching himself how to use editing software and working in the electronic music world.
His father, Avida, told the Makor Rishon newspaper — in an article about Haredi parents whose children were killed at Supernova — that after a difficult period following his dropping out of yeshiva, Eliyahu began working at a restaurant at age 16. He “had a strong work ethic and he was a very easygoing person. People saw him as a lighthouse, a symbol of honesty and purity. They said he was like a candle to them. Even in a not-so-good environment, he stood out for his purity.”
Later, Avida said, Eliyahu worked in the Mahane Yehuda market, “where he met many young people who, like him, ‘were looking for meaning in life.’ He always supported them and told them not to fight with their families.” At another point, he said, Eliyahu worked on the production team of the “Big Brother” TV show.
Eliyahu’s aunt, Noa Li-at Tzor, wrote on Facebook that he was “her first nephew, a sweet and smiley baby chick who lit up and gladdened our hearts.”
He was “a child of peace,” she added. “You accepted everyone as equals — all people with no exceptions. You weren’t a big talker, you would mostly listen. God knows how much I would badger you, and only if you had something important and relevant to say would you say it, and even that in your characteristic bashful manner.”
“You followed your passions and invested so much in them in the most dedicated way, and everything you taught to yourself,” she said. “You were a wellspring of talent, you were so modest, but you had so much to be proud of… you had a rich inner world of melodies, tunes and paintings that told your story, and left behind for us a testimony of your magical soul.”
His mother, Hadassah, told a religious website that “since he was born, he was very special and gifted with many talents. He could identify letters and numbers already from 18 months old, and only when we had more kids did we realize how unusual that was. He was a gentle boy, gifted, a combination of purity and talent, a kid who never hurt a fly.”
Hadassah said, “Eliyahu didn’t deal with external appearances at all, he was a real person, he was the one who taught us to look inside and not at the shell, at the Jewish soul inside everyone. In that respect, you could say that Eliyahu taught us, his parents, how to look at life.”
