‘Here’s Hoping’: American Hostage Murdered By Hamas Posted Haunting Haikus And Pro-Peace Meditations

With the tragic news that 70-year-old American-Israeli-Canadian hostage Judi Weinstein Haggai was confirmed dead Thursday, attention turned to the poetry she loved to write from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel.

That’s where she lived with her husband, 73-year-old Gadi Haggai, who last week was also confirmed killed in Hamas captivity. Nir Oz is also where 38 people were killed and 75 taken hostage on Oct. 7, according to The Times of Israel.

Haggai loved to write in the Japanese poetic form of haiku. The poems consist of three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. In retrospect, the haiku Haggai posted to her blog the morning of Oct. 7 could have been a haunting portent of the horror to come:

“pulse accelerates
mind makes new connections
as Fall shows her face.”

Independent journalist Yashar Ali posted a tribute to Haggai on X Thursday, along with a recording of her talking about her haikus.

“Like most of the kibbutzniks who were attacked and kidnapped on October 7, Judi Weinstein Haggai was peace loving…a hippie,” Ali wrote. “On her social media channels, she would post video and audio of her reading Haikus she had written. She would also post meditation videos. In one of her last posts, in May of 2023, Judi said:

“I truly hope that the next time I’m recording some Haiku it won’t be under duress. Under rocket fire. Under conditions where people are at war. Or even what they call military operations. May we all be granted the right to our basic rights of home, food, shelter, and peaceful days. Here’s hoping.”

According to the BBC, the Haggai family said in a statement that “there are no words to describe the pain of losing our parents and grandparents to the massacre that took place on our kibbutz. We pray that their bodies… will be soon returned to us, and that their murders are a reminder for leaders everywhere to bring the hostages home now before it is too late.”

Read more of Haggai’s haikus here.

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