Jerusalem – Rachel Goldberg-Polin last received a message from Hersh, 23, on October 7 at 8.11am, when she turned on her phone at her home in Jerusalem. “I love you. I am sorry”. She couldn’t have known it, but her son was with 28 other boys who had fled the Re’im rave to a shelter on Route 232 besieged by Hamas men. At that moment his best friend, Aner Shapiro, had already picked up and thrown away 7 of the grenades thrown into the small room: the eighth exploded in his hand, killing him. Immediately afterwards, two entered the shelter, causing a massacre: then the militants shot. Hersh and 2 other young people who survived were loaded onto a pick up: the last image, collected from the cell phone of a Hamas man, shows him with his left arm crushed from the elbow down on the back of the truck. Since then, this petite lady has transformed into a soldier: she has been to the UN, to Pope Francis, she has met Elon Musk and spoken to hundreds of journalists from all over the world, ending up on the cover of Time Magazine and on the Cnn.
How are you, Mrs. Goldberg-Polin?
«Like a person hit by a truck, who tries to speak while having a tire on his stomach and can’t breathe. I wake up every morning and feel like I no longer belong to this world. Then I say to myself “it’s time to pretend to be a human being”. I get up, I get dressed, I don’t wear makeup, or jewelry, or nice clothes. I don’t read, I don’t listen to music, I don’t exercise. I take a piece of tape, a marker, write what day we have arrived and stick it on the t-shirt. Then I go on a mission: I talk to anyone who wants to listen, I go wherever necessary, I meet all the ‘important people’ I have to meet. With one purpose: to bring my son home. And all the others.”
Have you heard anything from Hersh? From the army, from the freed hostages…
“None. None of the freed people saw him or the boys taken with him.”
How do you imagine your days?
«I don’t imagine. I cannot. Some hostages said their first stop inside Gaza was to treat those who were injured. Here, I hope that someone has taken care of the wound, which is serious: when he returns, Hersh will need doctors and long rehabilitation.”
What is life like for a waiting family?
«Jon and I never went back to work: campaigning for Hersh became our job. The other two daughters help: we talk, but every plan, every sentence always ends with “when Hersh returns.” I wouldn’t call it life.”
Have you ever lost hope?
“I cannot. Sometimes I cry, alone. And then I think of Aner’s mother who tells me: you can still hope. And then I leave again. In a philosophy book that I always have with me it says that there is a thin thread that separates hope from despair. My family and I try to stay on the side of hope. I speak to the image I have constructed of my “twin self” who is in Gaza: a woman, a mother, who is with Hersh. I ask her to be kind, take care of him. I don’t think I’m a dreamer: I don’t like “us and them”. I believe there are similar people on both sides: for better or for worse.”
At the UN he spoke about the suffering of the people of Gaza: it was not obvious…
«There are thousands of innocent people who are suffering, prisoners of a terrible situation that they did not create. I hope that some of them look these kids in the eyes and understand that they too are hostage to a situation that they did not create.”
For a hundred days her face has been all over the world: what would Hersh say if he saw her?
«Hersh is a very private person: he will kill us when he discovers that his face is everywhere, that the houses near ours are plastered with his photo, that those arriving at Tel Aviv airport are faced with his image and those of others . We hope that all this helps to make people understand that in Gaza there are people, not numbers.”
What should we tell about your son?
«Who is curious, open, funny. A football, music and travel maniac. In sixth grade he subscribed to National Geographic and never misses an issue. Last summer he toured Europe alone: he fell in love with Italy. Genoa, Milan and the Dolomites: hitchhiking. A few days ago he was supposed to leave for Asia: we gave stickers with his face to the people who took the flight he was supposed to take. To attack them in the places he should have visited: so, when he goes there, he will discover that he has already been there in some way. And he will hate us so much for it.”