Prominent Israeli writer, novelist and social activist Amos Oz died Friday in Israel at the age of 79.
“My beloved father has just passed away from cancer after a swift deterioration,” said his daughter Fania Oz-Salzberger in a brief statement. He died “peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by loved ones… Thank you to all who loved him.”
He is survived by his wife Nili Zuckerman and his three children.
Born in Jerusalem during the Mandatory Palestine of 1939, his name was Amos Klausner in his youth. The famed writer lived as a young man for a time on Kibbutz Hulda, and as an adult in the northern Negev desert city of Arad. He took on the name “Oz” – “courage” – and used his words to express his beliefs about his world after first completing his service in the IDF.
Amoz Oz began writing at age 22. He won dozens of literary honors, was an Israel Prize awardee, and a recipient of Germany’s Goethe Award. His numerous books have been published around the world and translated into 45 languages but although he was considered a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature, it was an honor he never achieved.
As a social activist, Oz helped to found the far-left “Peace Now” movement in Israel, a strong supporter of the so-called “two-state solution” and was a vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who nevertheless eulogized him, saying he was one of the greatest authors in Israeli history and added that although they differed on many issues, he deeply valued the writer’s contribution to Hebrew language and literature.
His most famous works include “In the Land of Israel” and “A Tale of Love and Darkness” – both non-fiction – as well as the novels “My Michael” along with “Black Box.” His memoir, “A Tale of Love and Darkness” won the Goethe Prize. Published in Hebrew in 2002, it remains one of Israel’s best-selling books, ever.
Speaking four years ago at a conference held at Herzliya’s Interdisciplinary Center, Oz said, “If there are not two states here fast, there will be one state here. And it will be Arab from the sea to the Jordan River. If there is such a state, I envy neither our children or our grandchildren…. My Zionist starting point has always been simple: We are not alone in Israel and in Jerusalem, and neither are the Palestinians. We cannot become one happy family. There is another way: They are not going anywhere, they have nowhere to go; we have nowhere to go. The house should be divided into two families.”
President Reuven Rivlin, himself somewhat of a poet, offered this farewell to Amos Oz:
“A story of love and light and now, great darkness.
Sadness descends upon us as the
Sabbath begins.
A literary casualty.
The glory of our Creator.
A giant spirit.
Rest in peace, our dear friend Amos.
You leave pleasure in your wake.”
Baruch Dayan Emet