Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of former hostage Hersh, shared a chilling revelation from other hostages during a book launch.
"Or Levy had only just been released when he asked to speak with us. He had just learned that his wife had been murdered and had just been reunited with his son, but he still made time to ask to speak separately with each of the families whose loved ones he had met in captivity," Goldberg-Polin recalled in an interview with Channel 12. "The meeting with us lasted several hours and at the end he told me, "Hersh heard your voice."
She continued, "I remember feeling a kind of shock down to my ankles. I asked him, 'What? He heard what?', and Or replied, 'He heard you talking about the meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State.' I asked if he had heard that I had met with him, and Or corrected, 'No, he heard you saying that you met with him'."
"It shook me deeply. To know that while he was starving, being tortured, suffering pains without his dominant hand and under horrendous conditions, he heard my voice. He knew that John and I were trying, that we had gone to the ends of the world for him. That strengthened him and it certainly strengthened me, even though by that stage he had already been dead for more than 120 days. It gave me a new sense of validation, that there had been a communication between us even if I hadn't known about it," she said.
"I will remember that moment for the rest of my life; it was a turning point that truly revived my soul," she added.
She noted that the pain of the loss does not abate, but talking about her son helps her. "I know the pain will always remain. Our child is gone. As time passes, we miss him more. I truly hope I will grow stronger, but I do not think the longing, the yearning and the craving will fade - and they should not fade. I am proud that I miss my son, and I will always miss him. I am happy that I loved him so much, that the love continued to grow out of control. My love for him is stronger now than it was yesterday, or two months ago, or two years ago," she said.
Hersh, as well as several other hostages, was reported to have been executed by Hamas as IDF forces neared the place where they were being held. As an American citizen, his case was highlighted by the US as well as in Israel.