Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin speaking at Har Zion on May 7. (Courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia)
On May 7 at Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin — the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and later killed — spoke at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s annual Lion of Judah event.
Hosted by the Federation’s women’s philanthropy group, the annual event honors women who have contributed $5,000 or more to Federation advocacy efforts over the past year. It usually features a high-profile speaker, including Emmy-winning comedian and actress Judy Gold in 2025.
For Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents, perhaps the highest-profile advocates for the hostages, cars filled the parking lot, and hundreds of women — and perhaps a few men, as Jon Polin joked on stage — filled the sanctuary. They spoke for about 40 minutes following a luncheon.
“Women’s Philanthropy specifically requested the Polins for this event because their story has touched so many people across our community and far beyond it. From the perspective of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, they represent extraordinary resilience, humanity and the power of showing up for one another during unimaginable moments of pain and loss,” said Sarah Bernstein Solomon, the Federation’s chief development officer.
With the hostages home after the fall ceasefire agreement brokered by the Trump administration, Rachel and Jon’s message took on more timeless, transcendent themes.
They discussed losing a son, finding the strength to persevere and their continuous effort to put light out into the world.
As Rachel put it, hate fades, but love endures. It’s a theme she explores in her new, New York Times No. 1 bestselling book, “When We See You Again.”
The Book
The May 7 appearance was part of a North American book tour. “When We See You Again” focuses on the family’s normal, even boring, life, or “regular and beige,” as Rachel describes it, before Oct. 7. Then, it goes into the overwhelming and previously unimaginable tragedy of Hersh’s 330 days in captivity and subsequent murder in August 2024.
It explores how to persevere through unimaginable loss and mourning.
“We are not unique. There are millions of people who have buried children,” Rachel said.
She further explained that she’s now aware that the “regular and beige” period of the family’s life was distinct from what came next.
“This is part of the human enterprise: We’re going to have beauty; we’re going to have gorgeousness; and we’re going to have loss, and we’re going to have suffering,” Rachel said.
Love Is Stronger Than Death
She explained to the audience that, no matter how much support they received and how much they healed, their family would always be broken. They had lost something core to themselves.
“You know that you actually don’t get better, and that’s OK,” Rachel said. “You can be broken, and you can still last.”
The mother said she was able to last, in part, because she stopped fearing grief. She grew to understand that we only grieve for those we love, so she began to see it as “a badge of love.”
“The love keeps growing, because love is stronger than death, and love is stronger than time,” she said.
He Who Has a Why Can Bear Any How
After his release, Or Levy, another hostage who was kidnapped by Hamas, connected with Hersh’s family. He had spent time in captivity with Hersh. Levy told Hersh’s parents that their son often muttered the Viktor Frankl quote, paraphrasing Friedrich Nietzsche, “He who has a why can bear any how.”
“Or explained to us the importance of that quote on all of their lives in the tunnel,” Jon Polin said.
Even after Hersh and another hostage were moved to another tunnel, the four remaining hostages repeated the phrase every day.
“What’s your ‘why?’” they would ask, according to Jon.
Hersh told Or that Or’s “why” was easy: He had a young son. Or later tattooed the phrase on his arm.
“So that was really something super meaningful about what Hersh was offering to others in the tunnel,” Jon said. “And we continue to take a lot from it.”
Our Why
Rachel said Or sent the family “light.”
“He sent us this tool to use,” she said. “And we are really chasing it, and honing it, and trying to figure it out.”
Rachel said that, in the wake of their tragedy, it’s become clear to her that “there is a why and how.” The mother described herself as “a big believer in prayer.” Every morning, there’s a line you can say: “I’m thankful to you, creator, for giving me back my soul,” she said.
The line shows that, while we think we’re supposed to have faith in God, God also has faith in us, according to Rachel.
“We’re still here because we’re not done,” she said.
But the purpose doesn’t often come in the form of some light bulb moment. Hersh’s parents have experienced it after something as simple as a meeting.
“We have walked out of certain meetings and said, ‘Well, that’s part of our why,’” she explained. “You have to work for it.”