Amiram Cooper

Amongst the 240 plus kidnapped citizens on October 7 is the 85-year-old poet and composer, Amiram Cooper – taken hostage with his wife Nurit from their Kibbutz, Nir Oz. Nurit has since been released by her Hamas captors. Born in Haifa in 1938, Amiram was one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz, arriving in 1957, and living peacefully, raising a family and building a community there until darkness descended on October 7. An economist by profession, Amiram has composed songs and poetry for over 60 years. He has often collaborated on the melodies with fellow kibbutz members or members from other kibbutzim. He has authored two compilations of poetry. His work is documented on the Hebrew site Shira Ovedet – ‘’Working Song’’. This site documents a whole gamut of Kibbutznikim who combined song and labour from the earliest days of the Hebrew Yishuv, and then after Independence. These are Artists who never became mainstream, but whose rich Hebrew texts breathed life into the modern, revived Hebrew language.