NORFOLK, Va. — Half a world away from the Commonwealth of Virginia, Rachel Goldberg eulogized her son Hersh Goldberg-Polin, after a nearly year-long period where he was held in captivity by Hamas forces.
"I will love and miss you every day for the rest of my life. I know you’re right here, I just have to teach myself to feel you in a different way," she said at her son's funeral in Israel.
Goldberg-Polin, 23, is one of the six confirmed hostages found killed in tunnels underneath the Gaza city of Rafah this weekend.
The native of Berkeley, California, he lost part of his left arm to a grenade blast in the Oct. 7 attack. In April, a Hamas-issued video showed him with his left hand missing, sparking new protests in Israel urging the government to do more to secure his and others’ freedom.
He spent several childhood years growing up in Richmond.
“We became absolutely certain you would come to us alive... but it was not to be,” his mother said.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sunday that flags should be flown at half-staff on all state and local buildings and grounds in the Commonwealth in remembrance of Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
“After 330 agonizing days since the brutal terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th that left more than 1,200 dead and hundreds more held hostage, Johnathan Polin and Rachel Goldberg woke up to unimaginable news that no parent should ever receive. Suzanne and I are angered and heartbroken by the death of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a senseless murder at the hands of terrorists. Today, Virginians, Americans, and the world join the Goldberg-Polin family and the Keneseth Beth Israel Synagogue in prayer.”
His parents, U.S.-born immigrants to Israel, became perhaps the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the international stage. They met with U.S. President Joe Biden, Pope Francis, and others and addressed the United Nations, urging the release of all hostages.
On Aug. 21, his parents addressed a hushed hall at the Democratic National Convention, which followed with sustained applause and chants of “bring him home.”
“This is a political convention. But needing our only son — and all of the cherished hostages — home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” said his father, Jon Polin.
His mother, Rachel, who bowed her head during the ovation and touched her chest, said: “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive.”
“Everyone is someone’s neighbor, and this loss is our neighbor. So we feel that special, keen edge of bereavement in this case," Michael Panitz, Rabbi of Temple Israel in Norfolk told 13News Now.