Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and murdered in captivity, spoke today (Thursday) at a reception at the President's Residence for the diplomatic corps stationed in Israel on the occasion of Independence Day.
She shared with great pain the details she knew of her son's captivity. "On the 491st day of this odyssey of pain, the abductee Or Levi was released, and he asked me and Majon to meet him. We went to the hospital where he recovered from his torture conditions, and where he learned that his beloved wife Einav did not survive the Hamas attack on October 7. Or shared with us what happened to Hersh. They were kidnapped from the same Migonit, taken in the same vehicle to the Gaza Strip, and reunited after 50 days in the tunnels. Those hours that my husband and I spent in the hospital with the enlightened Or Levi were sacred, and we will remember them forever. Or said that Hersh went to each of the abductees in the tunnel and told them a quote he read in Viktor Frankl's book 'Man's Search for Meaning' - 'He who has the why, will find the how.' It is a phrase that Or has tattooed on his arm.
""Or said that Hersh repeated this sentence to himself and to each of the abductees and encouraged everyone to think about the motivation that would allow them to breathe and continue living in hell. After Hersh was taken from the tunnel to another place, Or explained to us that every day, several times a day, and for the next 470 days - the other abductees in Or's tunnel asked each other - 'What is your lemma, for what purpose are you going to continue fighting another day - and how will you do it?' It became a kind of prayer or mantra.".
She told how she learned that her son had been murdered. "On the night of August 31st of last year, John called me into the bedroom and said he had seen rumors that six bodies had been found in the tunnel. The rumor was that our Hersh was one of them. John gave me the book of Psalms that I keep by my bed and said it was time to pray. We read Psalms for seven hours until the IDF intelligence officer, the FBI and the US ambassador came to our house at four in the morning to tell us that Hersh had been murdered.
The six beautiful abductees - Eden Yerushalmi, Uri Danino, Almog Saroussi, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat and our Hersh were held in an airless tunnel, 1.6 meters high, 20 meters underground, 60 centimeters wide, without electricity and without plumbing. Hersh was 1.85 meters tall and weighed 53 kilograms. Eden was 1.60 meters tall, weighed 35 kilograms. They were all riddled with bullets and dirty from not having showered for months.
The mother gave a chilling account of how her son was found. "Hamas terrorists shot Harsh in one hand after his other hand was blown off on October 7 during his kidnapping. He was shot in the shoulder, in the neck, under his ear and in the back of his head. He was found frozen on his knees with his face resting on the face of Eden, a girl named after the Garden of Eden. Since then, our lives have been in another galaxy. On his 77th birthday, there is so much I want to wish Israel - but the most urgent thing is to bring the kidnapped people home.".
She addressed the ambassadors stationed in Israel and called on them to act. "The release of the hostages is entirely possible as long as people with power decide that it is in their interest and profit. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. I am a simple person, but I know that each of you has the ability to help this happen. You were not put here by chance. This is your raison d'être and this may be the only reason you will do this - because it is justified. It is sacred. And it may be the only divine thing you will do in your life.".
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