More than four months ago, on October 7, 2023, 23-year-old American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin went into hiding with his childhood friend Sgt. Aner Shapira, 22, along with 29 other young men in a small roadside bomb shelter as Hamas terrorists stormed the Supernova music festival in southern Israel.
At dawn, rockets exploded and armed terrorists descended on the Negev Desert from motorized paragliders.
About 1,200 people were raped and massacred in Israel that day, including 367 of the more than 3,000 people who attended the festival.
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Goldberg-Polin sent her mother, Rachel Goldberg, two text messages that morning, her mother told Fox News Digital. One said, “I love you” and the other said, “I'm sorry.”
Goldberg recently told Fox News Digital in a phone interview: “He was just starting his life. We pray to God that he comes home.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was injured and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Fox News Digital recently spoke with his mother, Rachel Goldberg, who told him: “We pray to God that he comes home” . (Courtesy of the Goldberg-Polin family)
It is her faith that has kept her going through the most difficult times, she revealed in a sometimes emotional interview.
'A different universe'
Goldberg and her husband live in Israel (they were both born and raised in Chicago). They have three children: her son Hersh was born in California. The family moved to Israel when he was almost eight years old.
He had seen his son in Jerusalem the night before the terrorist attack, at a Shabbat dinner after synagogue, Goldberg said.
“Around 11 at night, he kissed me, kissed my husband and said, 'I love you guys. See you tomorrow.'”
She learned the grim details of what happened to her son and his friend from four survivors who were trapped under bodies in the same bomb shelter as her son.
When the terrorists threw hand grenades into the shelter, Shapira heroically threw away seven of them. But the eighth exploded in his hands, killing him.
This image taken from undated body camera video taken by a downed Hamas terrorist and released by the Israel Defense Forces shows a Hamas terrorist walking through a residential neighborhood at an undisclosed location in southern Israel. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
More grenades were thrown into the shelter and shots were fired. Eighteen people died in that attack alone.
Terrorists armed with machine guns then ordered Hersh Goldberg-Polin and two other wounded young men into a van outside.
“I wasn't screaming. I was obviously in shock.”
When Goldberg-Polin stood up, survivors reported seeing that his left arm had been blown off from the elbow down.
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Rachel Goldberg and her husband, Jon Polin, later watched a video of the festival showing their son getting into the truck.
Goldberg told Fox News Digital: “He wasn't screaming. He was obviously in shock. You can see his arm was blown off… He tied some kind of bandage, with a T-shirt or something around it. He got into the truck by himself, and When he turns to sit up you can see the stump where his arm used to be.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin (left), photographed with his parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin. He has been held captive since October 7, 2023. His parents have strongly advocated for his release and the release of all hostages since then. (Courtesy of the Goldberg-Polin family)
The distraught mother added: “We have been living in a different universe ever since.”
The last signal from her son's cell phone was at 10:25 a.m. that Saturday, she said.
“Hope is mandatory”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin is one of more than 240 people who were kidnapped by Hamas; 45 of them were removed from the music festival.
More than 130 hostages are believed to be still being held in Gaza at this time. Apparently the youngest is a one-year-old baby.
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Rachel Goldberg is Modern Orthodox. She credits her faith and her relationship with God for helping her persevere through the emotional pain, fear, and uncertainty she is experiencing.
“God has faith in us and gives us another chance to have another day to make sense of our lives.”
“When you are a believer, hope is mandatory,” he said.
She recites the Modeh Ani prayer upon waking up to show her gratitude to God, she told Fox News Digital.
Goldberg with his son, Hersh. Since October 7, she has been reading a psalm each day that corresponds to the number of days Hamas has held his son hostage, he told Fox News Digital. (Courtesy of the Goldberg-Polin family)
“It's a one-line prayer that simply says, 'Thank you for giving me my life back, for giving me my soul back, and for having faith in me.'”
He added: “I love the idea that God has faith in us and gives us another chance to have another day to [create] meaning in our lives.”
The devoted mother reads psalms throughout the day, which she says strengthens her.
“I think of the Psalms as a self-help book, because you can choose whichever one speaks to you at the time.”
“I think of the Psalms as a self-help book, because you can choose whichever one speaks to you at the time,” he said.
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“Some of the psalms say, 'Hallelujah, you are incredible,' and others say, 'I am at the bottom of a well. Where are you? Why do you hide your face from me? Help me, help me!'”
Psalm 23 reminds her that God is with her, she said. “'Even though I'm going through the shadows of scary things, I know you're with me,'” she said. “It's a really great tool for people who are in the middle of something really difficult.”
He also summarized Psalm 121 as, “I call to you from the depths.”
After Oct. 7, she said she has been reading a psalm each day that corresponds to the number of days her son has been held hostage.
'You don't need two arms to travel'
Rachel Goldberg's voice rose and cracked as she talked about her son on Fox News Digital.
She described his humor as “sarcastic without being mean” and said he always followed the commandment to be respectful of his parents.
He is a voracious reader who loves music, playing soccer and camping, he said.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin (far right) as a child, with his sisters. He was planning to travel for at least another year when he was kidnapped, his mother said. (Goldberg-Polin Family)
Since the age of 15, he has been active in Hapoel Jerusalem, an organization that organizes youth coexistence activities, such as soccer matches in which Jewish and Arab children play together.
When he was in first grade, his son asked that his National Geographic Kids subscription be upgraded to regular National Geographic, he said.
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Always curious to explore different places, last summer he traveled alone to six European countries for nine weeks, attending music festivals and meeting people from all over the world.
He was planning to travel for at least another year when he was kidnapped, his mother said.
Releasing captives is the most important mitzvah (commandment) according to Jewish tradition, Goldberg said.
She said she prays that he “gets the help he needs, gets the new arm he needs and makes that trip around the world, because you don't need two arms to travel.” ” she added.
Goldberg believes that the hostage situation in Gaza is a global humanitarian crisis, he said, and that freeing the captives is the most important mitzvah (commandment), according to Jewish tradition.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin as a child. “There is a time in everyone's life when it is time to stand up and be brave,” said mother Rachel Goldberg. “In a crisis, that's when who you are really comes to light, and that's when who you are will be remembered.” (Courtesy of the Goldberg-Polin family)
He said that even if it's scary to get involved, “there's a time in everyone's life when it's time to stand up and be brave… In a crisis, that's when who you are really comes to light, and that's when who you are will be remembered.” “.
She and her husband came up with the idea of an educational initiative to defend the hostages in Gaza and raise awareness about how freedom from captivity is a basic universal human right for all innocent people around the world.
'Everyone counts'
Jewish educational organizations, M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education and Kol HaOt, in partnership with The Jewish Education Project, brought this idea to life by launching the Everyone Counts website on January 14, 2024, which marked 100 days of captivity for the hostages.
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The day after the site launched was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the Everyone Counts site featured its quotes highlighting the unconditional support for Israel, democracy, freedom, and peace that people could post.
Photographs from the “Kidnapped Hearts” exhibition in Ness Ziona, Israel, show life-size black iron silhouettes of the hostages with empty hearts cut out, illustrating the harrowing emotional effects of their captivity.
Jon Polin, left, with his son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is still held captive by terrorists in Gaza. Jon Polin and his wife Rachel Goldberg believe that freedom from captivity is a basic universal human right for every innocent person around the world. (Courtesy of the Goldberg-Polin family)
The Everyone Counts site also links to other sites such as Listen to Moms, which offers support to mothers from 25 different countries who have been advocating for the release of babies and children kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.
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The website lists simple steps people can take, such as taking a minute a day to contact their members of Congress or wearing a yellow ribbon, a symbol of hope for freedom for hostages.
Displaying this symbol in public signals to the hostages' families that their loved ones have not been forgotten.
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Each act of defense can be dedicated to a particular hostage, the site also notes.
No'a Gorlin, COO of M², said: “Everyone Counts is about getting to know the people and each person – it's not just a story. This is very personal. These are people, these are individuals, these are lives. Each one is a story and a world in itself.”
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