Parents of slain hostage Hersh give twin sermons at Tel Aviv rally: ‘We’ve lost too many cherished souls’

Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, parents of slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, promise the other hostage families they will stick with them until all the captives return.

Both say they are not making a political statement, but are advocating for the remaining 101 hostages.

In twin sermons in English and Hebrew, the two speak about the weekly Torah portion, Hayei Sarah, in which the eponymous matriarch dies at the age of 127, leaving the hundreds-strong crowd at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square entranced.

Jon Polin, in Hebrew, describes the new widower, Abraham, at 137: with one son childless and the other estranged, he is a far cry from God’s promise that he will beget a great nation.

“Does Abraham expect miracles? No” Polin asks. “He proceeds to act,” buying a gravesite and sending his manservant to find a wife for his son Isaac.

“I call on all decision-makers: be like Abraham in the weekly Torah portion,” says Polin.

“Focus on the most important mission. Bring the hostages home,” he says. “Don’t accuse, don’t point fingers. Be human beings.”

Rachel Goldberg, in English, notes the traditional opinion of “our biblical commentators, our meforshim,” was that Sarah died when she heard her only son Isaac had been sacrificed.

"My name is Rachel, and I will always be the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin"

Hostages Square, October 414 ????️#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope pic.twitter.com/jMSVLKmka9

— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) November 23, 2024

A silence sweeps over the crowd as Goldberg slowly utters the words.

“We have lost too many cherished souls,” she says. “There are too many parents like us who have lost their children.”

Addressing the hostages, she says: “Everyone here loves you.”

“Stay strong. Survive,” she adds.