Hostage parents Viki and Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod Cohen was a soldier taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, were told recently by released hostages that Nimrod was kept for months in a small animal cage, subjected to intense, painful questioning by his Hamas captors.
It was an agonizing sign of life for the Cohens, one that showed how much their 19-year-old has suffered, and raised questions about his continued survival.
One of the ways that Viki Cohen has attempted to stay sane during the anguishing months of Nimrod’s captivity has been by drawing illustrations, which she calls her meditative work.
Now Cohen has put her considerable talents to work on a children’s Haggadah for Passover, adding illustrations of the hostages — those still in captivity, those who were freed and those who were killed — and symbols and signs of their lives.
The Haggadah is the traditional Passover narrative read by Jews throughout the world at the Seder.
“I have to hold onto something that gives me hope,” said Cohen, who worked on the book during one recent week. “Illustrating is like a kind of meditation for me.”
A key to the illustrations of symbols and signs of Israeli hostages, some freed from captivity, others killed in captivity, in a children’s haggadah illustrated by Viki Cohen, mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen (Courtesy)
In the softcover Haggadah, Cohen drew people wearing leopard fabrics like released hostage Romi Gonen, a redheaded boy in a Batman costume in memory of Ariel Bibas, killed in Hamas captivity, and the scorpions researched by murdered hostage Ohad Yahalomi.
She added illustrations of the cacti that grew in hostage Oded Lifshitz’s Nir Oz garden, the now-familiar handlebar mustache of murdered captive Shlomo Mansour and the victorious hand gesture of released hostage Emily Damari.
The end of the book includes a key, explaining the significance of each illustration.
Viki Cohen, mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, in an advertisement for the Hostages Forum haggadah for Passover 2025 (Courtesy)
Cohen’s Haggadah, with a dedication on the back to her son Nimrod is available for purchase at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.
Also available is the Haggadah of Freedom, which is published by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and includes texts, interpretations and personal stories from released hostages and families of hostages still held captive in Gaza.
“It’s like a crazy emotional text,” said Lir Alter, a volunteer at the Forum who worked on the Haggadah.
It includes the story of the Haggadah that released hostages Liri Albag and Agam Berger put together while in captivity; a letter that Hadar Goldin, a soldier killed and abducted in Gaza in 2014, wrote to his fiancée on Passover eve; words about Moses and their relevance now from bereaved father Ruby Chen; and the story of Avera Mengistu’s release in February after ten years in captivity.
A text by released hostage Liri Albag ‘The Haggadah of Freedom’ produced by the Hostages Forum for Passover 2025 with texts by hostage family members (Courtesy Hostages Forum)
Each text written by a family was placed in the Haggadah in context with the story of the Exodus from Egypt, said Alter.
And so, Albag writes about “one moment of hope in the perpetual darkness in which they were held,” while Ofri Peri, daughter of murdered hostage Chaim Peri, wrote that the Seder night is now different because of her father’s absence from the table.
Shir Siegel, daughter of released hostages Aviva and Keith Siegel, writes that just before Passover 2024, Hamas released a propaganda video of her father, while this year he is miraculously home.
“Nothing is random, every text has its place,” said Alter.
‘The Haggadah of Freedom’ produced by the Hostages Forum for Passover 2025 with texts by hostage family members (Courtesy Hostages Forum)
Illustrator Vered Goldman created original drawings for the Haggadah, which can be purchased at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum tent in Jerusalem, and online at the Forum’s website.
The Hebrew Haggadah was also printed with an English translation, but those have sold out in Israel. There are English versions of the Haggadah available online in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe.
Last year, the Forum put together the Haggadah of Hope, with commentaries by Chief Rabbi David Lau, educator Miriam Peretz, Kibbutz Be’eri member Haim Jelin, Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, singer Rita, and the parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, in the English language version.
“We wanted to do something different this year,” said Alter, “something that keeps the traditional text but gives a place and voice to the hostage families.”
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