Rachel Goldberg-Polin at funeral of murdered hostage son Hersh: 'My sweet boy, finally you're free'

The mother of murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin tells mourners at his Jerusalem funeral that it was a privilege to have him as a son.

“I have had a lot of time during the past 332 days to think about my sweet boy Hersh, and one thing I keep thinking about is how out of all the mothers in the whole entire world, God chose to give Hersh to me,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin says. “What must I have done in a past life to deserve such a beautiful gift?”

Continues Rachel: “I am honest and I say, it’s not that Hersh was perfect. But he was the perfect son for me. And I am so grateful to God — and I want to thank God right now in front of all of you for giving me this magnificent present of my Hersh. For 23 years, I was privileged to have the most stunning honor — to be Hersh’s momma. I’ll take it and say thank you. I just wish it had been for longer.”

She says the family “became absolutely certain” that Hersh would come back alive. “But it was not to be.”

“Now I no longer have to worry about you; I know you are no longer in danger. You are with beautiful Aner. He will show you around,” she says, referring to her son’s best friend Aner Shapiro, who was killed as he threw grenades out of a bomb shelter to save those inside.

“I pray that your death will be a turning point in this horrible situation in which we are all entangled,” she says, adding she takes comfort that he was with other hostages at the time he was killed.

“When you wrote to us from the bomb shelter, you had just seen Aner get killed. You had lost your arm and you thought you were dying. And you wrote to us, I’m sorry, because you knew how crushing it would be for us to lose you, so you fought to stay alive. And now you’re gone,” she says.

Rachel asks her son to forgive her being unable to save him. “At this time, I ask your forgiveness. 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 says in anguished tones.

“Now, my Hersh, I ask for your help. As we transform our hope into grief, in this new, unknown brand of pain, I beg of you, Hersh, please do what you can do to have your life shine down” on the whole family, she says. “Help shower us with headling and resilience. Help us to rise again.”

She thanks neighbors and her community for the support they have given, saying that her family will now need even more help in the coming period as they deal with their grief.

“Okay, sweet boy, go now on your journey. I hope it’s as good as the trips you dreamed about,” she says toward the end of her address. “Because finally, my sweet boy, finally, finally, finally, finally you’re free. I will love you and I will miss you every single day for the rest of my life,” she says.

“I know you are here,” she says, addressing Hersh and putting her hand to her heart. “I just need to teach myself to feel you in a different way.”