From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 19, 2025
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, Elise Stefanik to feature at Yeshiva University commencement
Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of slain Hamas hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and US Rep. Elise Stefanik will both be honored at the commencement ceremony for New York’s Yeshiva University on Thursday.
Goldberg-Polin will deliver the commencement address to the expected 5,000 students, faculty, alumni, and families at the event, the university says.
“Throughout our personal quest to save our beloved Hersh and all the cherished hostages, the valiant Yeshiva University community was by our side holding us up,” Goldberg-Polin says in a statement. “After suffering our crushing blow, YU has remained with us as we navigate through our valley of pain, while we all continue fighting for the remaining 58 treasured hostages’ freedom.”
Yeshiva University, the flagship Modern Orthodox institution of higher learning in the US, will present Stefanik with its highest honorific, the Presidential Medallion.
Last year, the university presented the award to Sen. John Fetterman.
Stefanik, a New York Republican, and Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, are among Israel’s most prominent defenders in Congress.
The ceremony, the university’s 94th commencement, will take place at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens.
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