Your Daily Phil: ‘Finally you are free’: Hersh Goldberg-Polin laid to rest
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on reactions to news of the murder of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin in the multiple American Jewish communities where his family has roots, and on the latest round of federal nonprofit security grant allocations. We feature an opinion piece by Erica Brown addressing Hersh’s parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin. Also in this issue: Dame Louise Ellman, Steven Sotloff and Cherna Moskowitz. We’ll start with our coverage of the funeral that drew thousands of mourners yesterday in Jerusalem.
Describing their son as a child of light and love, of curiosity and wanderlust, of justice and peace, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin bade a heart-wrenching farewell to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, as he was laid to rest yesterday in Jerusalem, reports Judith Sudilovsky for eJewishPhilanthropy. They were surrounded by thousands of people who had come to pay their last respects and accompany the family, who have become some of the most well-known representatives of the struggle to gain the release of loved ones taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.
“At this time, I ask your forgiveness,” said Goldberg-Polin, standing beside her husband and two daughters, Leebie and Orly. “If ever I was impatient or insensitive to you during your life, or neglected you in some way, I deeply and sincerely request your forgiveness, Hersh.”
“If there was something we could have done to save you, and we didn’t think of it, I beg your forgiveness. We tried so very hard, so deeply and desperately. I’m sorry,” she said.
Polin recalled holding 3-year-old Hersh’s hand on weekly walks to get coffee in Berkeley, Calif., bracing himself for the “challenging questions” of a preschooler. Even from a young age, his son was a deep thinker, and as he grappled with issues ranging from the ethics of eating animals and Israeli settlement policy to halachic observance and the benefit of a university degree, it expanded Polin’s own way of thinking, he said.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was captured from the Nova dance festival in Kibbutz Re’im after taking refuge in a bomb shelter together with his childhood friend, Aner Shapira, who was killed by a grenade after successfully throwing seven grenades out of the shelter. Goldberg-Polin was critically injured by a grenade explosion and a horrific video released by Hamas showed him climbing into the back of a truck with a tourniquet he had fashioned tied around his bloody left arm where his forearm had been blown off.
The first sign he had survived the attack came in April when Hamas released another video, giving the family hope; and the continuing though ultimately unsuccessful negotiations also provided a modicum of hope, said his mother. Despite the “agony, terror, anguish, desperation and fear” that had burned her soul and their family had experienced over the past 332 days, they had been “absolutely certain” her son would be coming home alive.
“The hope that perhaps a deal was near was so authentic it was crunchy. It tasted close. But it was not to be so,” she said. “Now I no longer have to worry about you. I know you are no longer in danger.”
Goldberg-Polin also said she still wanted to acknowledge the good and thank God for selecting her to be Hersh’s mother.
“I have had a lot of time during the past 332 days to think about my sweet boy, my Hersh. And one thing I keep thinking about is how out of all the mothers in the world, God chose to give Hersh to me. What must I have done in a past life to deserve such a beautiful gift? It must have been glorious,” she said. “I am honest. And I say, it is not that Hersh was perfect. But, he was the perfect son for me. And I am so grateful to God, and I want to do hakarat hatov and thank God right now, for giving me this magnificent present of my Hersh… For 23 years I was privileged to have this most stunning treasure, to be Hersh’s Mama. I’ll take it and say thank you. I just wish it had been for longer.”
Thousands of people lined the route from the Goldberg-Polin home to the cemetery, waving Israeli flags and the red and black banners of Hersh’s beloved Hapoel Jerusalem soccer team, or holding placards bearing the messages “Sorry” or “Stay strong, survive” — the latter words Goldberg-Polin had used as messages to Hersh.
“This family made aliyah to Israel to better their lives and they have been emotionally tortured, and Hersh was physically tortured,” said Lia Lazar, 30, who had come from Tel Aviv to show her support. “This should not have happened. We failed.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog eulogized Hersh Goldberg-Polin in the name of the government, asking his forgiveness for having failed to protect him on Oct. 7.
“Beloved Hersh, with a torn and broken heart, I stand here today as the president of the State of Israel, bidding you farewell and asking for your forgiveness, from you, and from Carmel, from Eden, from Almog, from Alex, and Ori, and from all your loved ones,” Herzog said. “I apologize on behalf of the State of Israel, that we failed to protect you in the terrible disaster of Oct. 7, that we failed to bring you home safely. I apologize that the country you immigrated to at the age of 7, wrapped in the Israeli flag, could not keep you safe. Rachel, Jon, dear Leebie and Orly, grandparents and the whole family – I ask for your forgiveness, forgiveness that we could not bring Hersh back home alive.”
BARUCH DAYAN EMET
Jewish communities remember Hersh Goldberg-Polin as a symbol of the hostages and as a boy who davened with his dad
From Richmond, Va., to the hills of northern Georgia to Columbus Circle in New York City, the killing of American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who emerged over 11 months of Hamas captivity as a kind of native son, has touched a deep nerve in Jewish communities across the U.S. That hurt is especially felt in communities where the family’s roots were planted, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen.
A tragic end: On Saturday, Goldberg-Polin, 23, who had dual American and Israeli citizenship, was found executed alongside five other hostages — Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lubnov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40 and Almog Sarusi, 25 — according to the Israel Defense Forces. All of them had been recently killed by Hamas terrorists, just before IDF soldiers found them in the tunnels deep below Gaza’s Rafah. Throughout the nearly 11 months since Oct. 7, the 23-year-old’s parents, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and her husband, Jon Polin, became some of the most prominent international figures advocating for the release of their son and all of the kidnapped Israelis — including meetings with Pope Francis and President Biden and an impassioned speech last month at the Democratic National Convention.
Lasting ties: At Keneseth Beth Israel in Richmond, the Modern Orthodox congregation that the Goldberg-Polins attended for five years before making aliyah in 2008, Rabbi Dovid Asher said that the loss feels personal because so many of his congregants still have strong ties with the family. “They have a lot of close friends in the shul and people here are grieving tremendously,” he said. The loss was felt in Atlanta’s Jewish community, too, where for several years after moving to Israel the family of five made an annual trek to Ramah Darom, the camp and retreat center in Clayton, Ga., for a Passover retreat to reunite with their extended American family. “Even when Hersh was young and other kids would be outside playing during davening, Hersh would be sitting next to Jon in their regular spot by the windows in our beit knesset,” Wally Levitt, CEO of Ramah Darom, told eJP. “During this year’s Passover retreat, we reserved Hersh’s seat with the hope that he would be back sitting in it next year.”
SECURITY SUPPLEMENTAL
Despite additional dollars available, less than half of 2024 nonprofit security grant applications receive funding
Only 43% of applications for Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding were fulfilled in the 2024 grant cycle despite an injection of additional funding from the national security supplemental bill passed earlier this year, reports Marc Rod for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. About 37% of grants awarded were for Jewish institutions.
Looking at the numbers: The NSGP, which provides funding for religious institutions and nonprofits to supplement their security, received 7,584 applications this cycle, 3,288 of which were approved, a Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesperson told JI. When the grant funding was announced on Monday, $454.5 million was allocated out of $973 million in total funding requested. Congress had provided $274.5 million for the program through regular appropriations for 2024, a cut of more than $30 million from the year prior, but that funding was supplemented by an additional $400 million in the national security supplemental bill. Around half of that was allocated during this year’s grant cycle, leaving $220 million for future use.
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
READER RESPONDS
We are so sorry, and we are still here for you
Dear Rachel and Jon, yesterday you buried your son, your beautiful boy. You made it your job for 330 days to tell us all about Hersh, and we got to know him thanks to you… Most of all, you shared your love for him, and in doing so you helped us love him even though most of us never met him,” writes Erica Brown, vice provost for values and leadership at Yeshiva University and the founding director of the university’s Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Faces of a movement: “In so many ways, his face and your own became the faces of this past year of desperation and small miracles. You did not lose hope, so we did not lose hope. You carried us across an abyss of brutality with your clarion calls for his freedom and freedom for every hostage. You were at once ethereal and practical, strong and vulnerable. Your objectives danced between the particular and the universal. You explained your pain, injected us with optimism and charged us to join you. We were tasked to do everything we could to confront suffering with enhanced political activism, depth of spirit and love for each other. Resignation was never an option. Defeat was not in your vocabulary.”
What we owed you: “Rachel and Jon, we are so sorry. We let you down. We did not exert enough pressure. We did not do enough to fight the evil, to salvage human life and bring your sweet boy home. It was the least we could do, and yet our American optimism was no match for the monster that is Hamas terrorism.”
What you’ve given us: “You inspired us to use our energy and vigor for good. You taught us that even in the dark of night, there is still room for affection, friendship and gratitude. You girded us with strength for the hard months ahead. You have been magnificent teachers. Please know that we listened. We are here for you now. We are here for you always… We will keep praying and protesting, writing and working towards the redemption of every last hostage in Hersh’s name and dedicate acts of goodness in his memory.”
Worthy Reads
A Different Approach: In The New York Times, former Stanford Law School Dean Paul Brest and Stanford professor Emily Levine propose new pluralistic standards for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. “At the core of pluralistic approaches are facilitated conversations among participants with diverse identities, religious beliefs and political ideologies, but without a predetermined list of favored identities or a preconceived framework of power, privilege and oppression. Students are taught the complementary skills of telling stories about their own identities, values and experiences and listening with curiosity and interest to the stories of others, acknowledging differences and looking for commonalities. Success would be an academic community of equally respected learners who possess critical thinking skills and are actively engaged in navigating challenging questions throughout the curriculum — an approach that teaches students how to think rather than what to think.” [NYTimes]
Around the Web
Dame Louise Ellman, deputy for Jewish Labor and former MP for Liverpool Riverside, and Karen Newman, deputy for the Liberal Jewish Synagogue and chair of Liberal Judaism will be the new independent chairs for the Board of Deputies of British Jews…
The Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto, Calif., inaugurated its 2024–2025 board of directors in August, including returning members Lauren Berman and Amir Faintuch and new members Jennifer Miller and Jody Shapiro…
Joe Roberts was named the new executive director of the Tulsa, Okla., Jewish Federation…
The Youngstown, Ohio Area Jewish Federation received a $36,000 early childhood security grant from the The Tepper Foundation through Jewish Federations of North America…
Following pressure from Jewish groups at the University of Maryland, College Park, the school’s administration reversed its decision to allow an anti-Israel rally to be held on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks…
The University of Michigan student government is refusing to allocate student activity fees to campus groups since the Shut It Down party, which won control over the student government in the spring, is withholding funding for all activities until the university commits to divest from “companies that profit from Israel’s war in Gaza”…
A report issued by Columbia University’s antisemitism task force details a pattern of behavior toward Jewish and Israeli students that was “troubling and violates norms of behavior and speech that are central to the values of our university”…
A new survey from the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) in the U.K. looks at antisemitism in schools and how it may affect parents’ decisions about where to educate their children…
Jewish fraternity brothers from the University of North Carolina chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi — which saw viral fame after some of the fraternity members were photographed protecting the American flag during campus protests — are requesting that the roughly $500,000 being spent by an outside fundraiser on a party to celebrate their efforts be donated to Jewish causes or Gaza relief…
In Time, Marc Marginedas reflects on his friendship with American-Israel journalist Steven Sotloff, whom he met while both were in ISIS captivity, on the 10-year anniversary of Sotloff’s execution…
Starlink will soon provide satellite positions for WiFi for hospitals and emergency centers in northern Israel to enable communication continuity in the event of blackouts and other emergency scenarios…
The Jewish Chronicle reports on the dispute between Chabad and the Autonomous Orthodox Jewish Community of Hungary over who has the right to lead Hungary’s traditional Orthodox Jewish community; the case is scheduled to go to court this month…
University of Pittsburgh police arrested a person suspected of attacking a group of Jewish students with a bottle Friday night…
Rabbi Michael Lerner, co-founder of Tikkun magazine, died last week at 81…
The Jewish Press remembers Cherna Moskowitz, a leading supporter of Jewish charities and community improvement projects worldwide who, with her late husband Dr. Irving I. Moskowitz, helped expand Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria; she died in Florida on April 29 at 93…
Pic of the Day
Thousands of people attend the funeral of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin at Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem on Monday.
Birthdays
South Florida-based attorney, she served as the co-chair of JFNA’s national young leadership cabinet, Lindsey Tania Glantz…
Executive chairman of Time magazine, Edward Felsenthal… London-based advice columnist for the U.K.’s Cosmopolitan magazine for over 40 years, Irma Kurtz… Past chair of the Anti-Defamation League and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Robert G. Sugarman… NYC resident, Betty Lederman… Media personality, psychologist and socialite, also known as Dr. Estella, Estella Sneider, Psy.D. … Retired software engineer at IBM for 39 years, he persevered after many years to locate and inter the remains of the crew of a crashed WWII American B-24 in the Indian Himalayas, succeeding in 2008, Gary Zaetz… Actor best known for portraying Bobby Baccalieri on “The Sopranos,” Steve Schirripa… Chair of the global climate council at Apollo Global Management, Jonathan Silver… Offensive lineman for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints from 1982 to 1989, now a professional photographer, Brad M. Edelman… Producer and reporter at NBC and MSNBC, Adam Reiss… Historian and journalist who has written four books on the rise of the American conservative movement focused on Goldwater, Nixon and Reagan, Eric S. “Rick” Perlstein… Mayor of Haifa until earlier this year, she was the first woman to lead that city, Einat Kalisch-Rotem… Executive director at the Michael Reese Research & Education Foundation, Jason Rothstein… VP of data visualization at Moody’s Corporation, Todd Lindeman… CEO of PR and communications firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis, Shawn Sachs… Founder of the Silverstein Group, Rustin Silverstein… Rabbi of The Hampton Synagogue, Avraham Bronstein… Chief advancement officer of Honeymoon Israel, Avital Ingber… Director of public affairs marketing at Meta / Facebook, Joel Martín Kliksberg… Former chief media correspondent for CNN, now a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, Brian Stelter… Comedy writer, producer and performer, Megan Amram… Fashion model and actress, Kaia Jordan Gerber…
