Day 729 - Rachel Goldberg-Polin: A deep hope for repair and relief
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Goldberg-Polin, who has become a well-known voice in the Jewish and Israeli world since October 7, 2023, when Hersh was taken captive by Hamas terrorists, speaks about the challenge of being active, present, and even thankful in the aftermath of Hersh's death.
She speaks about the public nature of the family's mourning, as she and her husband, Jon Polin, remain active advocates for the remaining hostages, but grapple with their deep mourning in the public eye.
Goldberg-Polin shares anecdotes about her life, including her extended Jerusalem community during the high holiday period, and her desperate hope to grow from the challenges she's faced during the last two years.
She speaks about the need to help repair herself and the world around her and the need for some relief from the pain and suffering of this time period.
And so this week, we ask Rachel Goldberg-Polin, what matters now.
What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.
IMAGE: People walk next to a mural of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin in central Jerusalem, August 18, 2025. (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel's What Matters Now. |
| 0:06.5 | That's our weekly podcast delving into one issue affecting Israel and the Jewish world. |
| 0:11.7 | I'm today's host, Jessica Steinberg, and I'm here today with my very good friend, Rachel Goldberg, Poland, the mom of Hirsch Goldberg, Poland, who was taken hostage |
| 0:22.1 | from the Nova on October 7th and killed by Hamas terrorists in captivity last August. |
| 0:29.0 | Since then, Rachel has become a voice for all of us, for her family, for our Jerusalem community, |
| 0:35.4 | for Israel, for the Jewish world, for the world out there. |
| 0:38.9 | And you're someone that we've come to count on for what you have to say. |
| 0:43.9 | Today, we're here to talk about this moment and time, and most critically, concepts of |
| 0:49.8 | thankfulness and gratitude. How does one hold on to some level of gratitude to God, to family, |
| 0:56.3 | to community, to whomever, when the world around us is so challenging. So Rachel, first of all, |
| 1:03.1 | hi, it's very, very good to see your face. It's good to see you too. And thank you so much for |
| 1:09.0 | having me. Ever challenging times. Ever challenging times. |
| 1:16.5 | So let's get started. Rachel, as we all know, you have been thrown into a nightmare, and you've become this person known for your eloquence. |
| 1:33.2 | Your efforts, in a sense, to refocus any of us to the idea of a greater good. |
| 1:43.8 | And then, and I'm talking about the first year, and then you were thrown into tremendous mourning, and yet you still remain, for many of us, this beacon of hope. And I I'm wondering to start off with, how do you find |
| 1:47.8 | the words that you need to find every single day to speak to people, to groups, to individuals, |
| 1:52.9 | to the media? How do you do it? I think a lot of it is pretend and tremendous emotional, and mental acrobatics that I'm constantly |
| 2:07.7 | in dialogue with myself, with Hirsch, with God, with John, with my girls, with my closest friends, |
| 2:15.2 | constantly trying to direct myself and not to fall over the edge. |
| 2:21.4 | Meaning, I think that all of us at different times when we are suffering, you know, |
| 2:27.2 | there's this tightrope where you can do what is written in the book of a fine balance by the author mystery when he talks about |
| 2:38.6 | the fine balance of you can tip over to despair or you could tip over to hope and i i do these |
... |
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