Raps composed by Aner Shapira, killed on October 7, produced as posthumous LP
Family and friends commemorate the IDF sergeant’s heroism and his music with video that includes Hadag Nachash rapper Shaanan Streett
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
The name Aner — just three letters in Hebrew, the “ayin” hugging a smaller “nun” and “resh” in a thick, black scrawl — is plastered all over Jerusalem.
It’s graffitied on walls, visible on white stickers stuck on telephone poles, scrawled on boards throughout the city.
It was how Aner Elyakim Shapira, soldier, music lover, artist and rapper, wrote his name.
Shapira’s family and friends are remembering this hero with his music and a posthumous mini-album titled “Anerchism.”
Shapira had composed and produced five songs before he was killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7. His actions in saving the lives of 10 other people have become one of the most iconic examples of heroism from that day.
The sixth song, “Hatred of Brothers,” was produced with the help of rapper and producer Avery G., and with rapper Shaanan Streett of Hadag Nachash, who wrote and recorded a final verse.
The video for “Hatred of Brothers” was recorded in Jerusalem over the last month, featuring Shapira’s friends and family in the city where he was born and raised — a city that he loved, dreamed about and spoke of, according to a statement written by Shapira’s family.
There are brief glimpses of Shapira in the video, along with his parents, his siblings, and his friends, in the local haunts where he spent time and hung out with friends.
At the end of the video, Streett, a fellow lover and rapper of Jerusalem, sings the final verse in Hasira, a tiny, popular downtown bar.
Seated at the bar, Streett raps about saving the seats on either side of him, one for Aner and one for Aner’s best friend, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the remaining 130 hostages abducted on October 7 still held in Gaza.
Shapira and Goldberg-Polin were at the Supernova desert rave on October 7 when Hamas terrorists attacked the party.
Shapira, a sergeant in the Nahal Brigade, was on vacation during that holiday week. As the terrorist attacks began, Shapira and his friends fled the scene, and he was dispatched by his team commander to a nearby army base, but he didn’t make it that far.
The group of friends ran to a field shelter, and found 24 other people crowded into the small space as the terrorists were shooting all around them.
Shapira stood in the opening of the shelter, took charge and calmed people down. As the terrorists threw grenades toward the shelter, Shapira caught them and threw them back.
He caught a total of seven grenades before he was blown up by the eighth grenade and killed. The terrorists then entered the shelter, shot and killed some of those hiding inside and kidnapped several others, including Goldberg-Polin, whose right arm had been blown off from the elbow down.
Shapira’s heroism saved 10 people.
“He finished his life as a hero, a courageous, fearless leader, and that’s how he was and will be remembered,” stated his family.
They want others to get to know and remember their friend and son, the musician, rapper, artist, “lover of people and of righteousness, a fighter for social justice, a philosopher with an open heart and curious eyes,” they wrote in their statement.
Shapira’s dream was to publish his music and share his viewpoints with society through his songs — and to help change the world around him.
After Shapira’s death Jerusalem rapper Amit Adash contacted rapper and music producer Avery G.
Shapira knew and loved Avery’s music, and was also a lifelong fan of Hadag Nachash and Streeett, and both rappers immediately joined the project.
“It is unimaginable to listen to such amazing songs knowing that he is gone and that he will not be able to perform with them,” said Avery G. “I know the responsibility that has been assigned to me and that is to bring him out into the world in the most beautiful light possible. I cherish endless gratitude for the privilege of touching the powerful songs of the great soul, Aner Shapira. I did my best with it and I hope he would have liked the result.”
Shapira’s family and friends plan on continuing to work with Avery G on additional songs and to complete a double album of his music.
The Aner Shapira website includes his music and artwork. All proceeds will be used to make his work accessible, to produce the double album and to establish a youth music center, something Shapira dreamed of creating.
On March 28, Jerusalem’s Hansen House will host a launch event for Shapira’s album “Anerchism.”
