* Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
Thousands came to the funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin who was murdered in captivity by Hamas.
“Hersh and Aner are now together forever,” Jon, the father of Hersh, said referring to Aner Shapira, Hersh’s good friend, who was murdered on October 7. “There is symbolism in the fact that we just finished saying Kaddish for Aner and today we begin saying Kadddish for Hersh. One year is not enough to sanctify the names of these special two young men. They deserve two consecutive years of Kaddish.”
Jon continued: “When we told him at age seven that we would be making aliyah to Israel, we told him that the name Hersh could be challenging for Israelis. Maybe you want to become Tzvi, which has the same meaning (deer). But Hersh said confidently: “I am Hersh. Let the Israelis deal with that.” Ultimately, his name became famous throughout the world. Rachel and Jon did not bring him home, but Hersh entered the homes of millions everywhere.
And then Rachel spoke: “I want to thank God right now in front of all of you for giving me this magnificent present of my son Hersh. For 23 years I was privileged to have the most stunning honor to be Hersh’s mama. I’ll take this moment to say thank you.”
Continuing, she turned to those in Israel and throughout the world who had been at her side: “I want to say thank you to the countless people in this entire extended community who have held us, cared for us, prayed for us, cooked for us, and carried us when we could not stand up. I am so thankful to you and I apologize deeply but now we’re going to need continued help to get through this new chapter too, and I beg of you all please don’t leave us now. You gave us so much for 11 months and we gave you nothing in return.” It seems to me that anyone who heard this would say, “Rachel, this is not true. You gave us so much.”
Then she turned directly to Hersh. “I need to request your help. Our worry turns to grief. This is a new kind of pain, I beg you, Hersh, do what you can to have your light shine on me, on father, on Libi and on Orly. Give us healing and resilience from above so we can rise again, so that God will bless us and one day we will hear laughter and we will turn around and see it’s us, and that we’re okay. And you will always be with us as a source of love and vitality, you will become our superpower.
"Sweet boy, go now on your journey. Finally, finally, finally, finally you are free. I will love you and miss you every day for the reset of my life. I know you are right here in my heart, I know, I only need to teach myself to feel you in a different way.”
Condolences to the Goldberg-Polin family and all those who love them. Hersh was brought to rest when the new month of Elul, a month of rectification, positive change, introspection and spiritual healing was about to begin. The city of Jerusalem heard inspirational eulogies, words fitting for this month of teshuvah.