Yoram Metzger, 80: Kibbutznik and war veteran spoke Arabic and Yiddish

Yoram Metzger, 80, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7. In June 2024, the IDF confirmed that Yoram had been slain in captivity.

In August 2024, his body was recovered by IDF troops from Gaza and returned to Israel for burial, alongside those of Yagev Buchshtav, Nadav Popplewell, Avraham Munder, Chaim Peri and Alex Dancyg. An IDF investigation determined that the six were shot dead by their captors in mid-February 2024.

Yoram was kidnapped from his home along with his wife, Tami Metzger. Tami was freed on November 28, 2023, as part of a weeklong ceasefire-hostage release deal.

He was buried in Kibbutz Nir Oz on August 22, 2024. He is survived by his wife, Tami, their three sons Guy, Rani and Nir, and seven grandchildren.

Born in Petah Tikva, following his older sister Aviva, Yoram served his mandatory military service in the Nahal Brigade and did regular reserve duty, including during the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. He spoke Yiddish from his parents and later picked up Arabic as well, which survivors said helped him connect to his Hamas captors.

He met Tami while working as a youth pioneer on Kibbutz Amiad in the north, marrying in 1965 and living happily together for close to 59 years. Their first two children were born in Petah Tikva, and in 1974 they settled in Nir Oz, where they remained for almost 50 years – except for a few years when they lived in the Netherlands. As was common on the kibbutz, he was always known simply as “Metzger.”

Yoram worked for many years at the kibbutz’s Nirlat paint factory, and more recently in the kibbutz garage. He was described by loved ones as an excellent cook – who always had a jar of homemade pickles on hand – humorous, a lover of history and a dedicated drinker of the Nir Oz winery’s cellar and amateur winemaker.

At his funeral, his son Nir said, “Everyone here knows you from a different point of view – from the army, from work, from the kibbutz and more… but I’ll talk about Metzger the cook: cholent on Shabbat in the winter, a factory of pickles, and if you stood too close you’d find yourself inside a jar.”

Nir added, “You taught us so much, mostly how to speak with confidence, even when we don’t know what we’re saying. After all, we’re Metzgers.” And as a friend, he said, “You were always there for your friends. You had the ability to hold onto relationships for decades… If anyone needed help, you’d stand by them no matter what, even if you hadn’t seen or spoken to them in years.”

Speaking at his funeral, his granddaughter, Amit, said that “things were never boring with him. On the backdrop of the coffee and the crossword on the balcony, it was a bit of a surprise to sometimes hear a sentence in Yiddish or fluent Arabic.”

He’d tell stories about his experiences in the war, “entering the Western Wall in 1967 or the Suez Canal in 1973, and we’d realize how rich and interesting and full of history his life was,” she said.

“Grandpa Yoram really loved to cook,” she added. “He’d always tell me that I had a creative mind and therefore I’d be a great cook… Grandpa was a big talker – he could tell us stories for hours, and as soon as he realized we were interested he’d get even more excited.”

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