From the Liveblog of
Friday, August 7, 2026
‘The revolution is still the goal’: Hundreds gather to mark 2 years since Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s murder
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Hundreds gather this afternoon in Jerusalem to honor the memory of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and killed in captivity along with five other hostages in August 2024.
The ceremony, organized by family and friends, marks his second yahrzeit, the date of his death on the Hebrew calendar.
In late August 2024, Goldberg-Polin was shot by his Hamas captors at close range in an underground tunnel in Gaza, along with fellow captives Almog Sarusi, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alex Lubanov and Ori Danino. They were killed shortly before being located by IDF troops.
Goldberg-Polin, an American Israeli, was the most well-known globally of the 251 people taken hostage in the October 7 attack. That was largely due to the relentless efforts of his parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, who traveled the world advocating for their son’s release and spoke in a variety of high-profile forums.
At the memorial ceremony, Rachel Goldberg-Polin speaks last, following her husband, daughters Leebie and Orlee, and friends of Hersh.
Goldberg-Polin speaks poetically about being stuck in time, with Hersh frozen at the age at which he was taken from them, 23.
She speaks to the crowd of friends and neighbors who joined the family in their struggle to get Hersh released:
“All of us here, we ran, and begged and prayed and screamed and drowned and rose and boiled and baked and tore and kneeled and keeled and stood and pled and bat and cracked and kicked and crashed and thrashed and tried and cried and lied and grabbed and fell and waited and shrieked and died and lived and live and loved and loved and loved and love and love and failed,” says Goldberg-Polin.
Jon Polin speaks in Hebrew about the need for unity, emphasizing the importance of first listening to one another.
“Say I will try to hear what you’re saying and listen even if I don’t agree,” says Polin. “Understanding comes before peace.”
His final message is to his son.
“Hersh, the revolution is still the goal,” says Polin, referring to the refrain repeated after Hersh’s death, “May his memory be a revolution.”
The Times of Israel Community.