Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23: Soccer lover who dreamed of world travel

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, from Jerusalem, was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival on October 7 and murdered in captivity.

He attended the rave with a group of friends, including his close friend Aner Shapiro, an off-duty soldier. When the rocket fire began, they left via car and stopped on the side of the road to seek safety in a roadside bomb shelter next to Kibbutz Re’im.

Hamas gunmen attacked the shelter with grenades and gunfire, and Aner was killed after throwing back a number of unexploded grenades. In one of the explosions, Hersh’s left arm was blown off at the elbow. He sent his parents two texts from inside the shelter: “I love you” and “I’m sorry.”

Ultimately, Hersh was kidnapped from the shelter along with Alon Ohel, Eliya Cohen and Or Levy. Eliya and Or were released in early 2025, while Alon was freed on October 13, 2025. After Or was released, he tattooed on his arm a quote he said Hersh told him while in captivity that gave him strength: “He who has a why, can bear with any how.”

On August 29, 2024, after surviving horrifying conditions in Gaza for close to a year, Hersh was murdered in captivity alongside Carmel Gat, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Eden Yerushalmi. Their bodies were retrieved by the IDF two days later from a tunnel in south Gaza.

He was buried in Jerusalem on September 2. He is survived by his parents, Rachel and Jon, and his younger sisters Leebie and Orly.

Born in Berkley, California, Hersh later moved to Richmond, Virginia with his family before making aliya in 2008 when he was 7 years old.

Hersh grew up in Jerusalem, attending the religious Himmelfarb High School in the capital.

He was a devout fan of the Hapoel Jerusalem soccer team, attending games regularly and becoming an integral part of the team’s fan base and activities. Hersh was devoted to the team’s social justice values, and in his room hung a banner that read “Jerusalem is everyone’s” and another with the words “fight racism.”

After high school, Hersh enlisted in the IDF, serving as a medic in the 7th Armored Brigade. He completed his mandatory service in April 2023, and was working as a waiter and a medic with school groups in order to save up for travel.

Hersh’s biggest dream was to spend up to two years traveling around the world, his family said, and he even had a plane ticket for December 27, 2023, to head to India to start his trip. His mother said he had been planning his world travels “since he was in first grade with detailed maps and detailed plans.”

He loved music festivals, just like the Supernova rave, and the summer before he was kidnapped he spent nine weeks trekking through Europe and attending a series of music festivals along the way.

At his funeral, his mother, Rachel, noted that they would often wonder about the man Hersh would grow up to be, but now you “will be forever our beautiful boy. You will stay energetic, kind, patient, curious, funny, irreverent, pensive. Forever handsome. Forever young. Forever my sweet boy.”

Hersh, she said, “squeezed into your young life a lot of experiences. And that gives me relief and comfort. You made true and deep friendships, you traveled each summer and started to explore the world, you worked, you learned, you read, you taught, you served, you listened, you even fell in love and had a deep true relationship for more than two years.”

“You charmed everyone you ever talked to, old or young. You promoted justice and peace in a way only a young pure, wide-eyed idealist can,” she added. “You never raised your voice to me in your life. You treated me respectfully always, even when you chose a different path.”

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