When Hamas released a video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the 23-year-old Berkeley-born Israeli held captive since Oct. 7, nowhere was the shock and relief more palpable than in the neighborhoods of southern Jerusalem where his family lives.
“I was so overwhelmed with emotion to see that Hersh stayed strong and survived,” said Ariella Bernstein, who lives in the Baka neighborhood, where the Goldberg-Polin family resided before moving to nearby Mekor Haim. “I can’t even fathom the super-human strength that he [and his family] have had all this time to come this far.”
“To not hear anything from your child for more than 200 days is a pain every mother can understand,” Bernstein continued. “It’s hard to explain what it means to carry both relief and fear and urgency all at the same time. But that’s what I felt like when I heard that Hersh is alive.”
Like Rachel and Jonathan Goldberg-Polin, his parents, Bernstein has worn a piece of masking tape on her shirt every day with the number of days that the terrorist group has held the hostages. The Hamas propaganda video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin was released on April 24, the 201st day for the hostages. His family approved its release to the public.
Goldberg-Polin was born in Berkeley, where his family belonged to Congregation Beth Israel. The family made aliyah when he was 7 and settled in Jerusalem.
His family lives in a leafy corner of the city, as do many of Goldberg-Polin’s friends. Red banners with his photo hang from windows and balconies of homes in and around Mekor Haim, alongside yellow ribbons and posters of other hostages.
The Goldberg-Polin family, which includes his two younger sisters, is a highly visible part of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum formed within a day of the attack. His parents have been at the forefront of activism to keep the hostages’ plight in the hearts and minds of international leaders, from President Joe Biden to Pope Francis. His mother has spoken at countless Israeli and international demonstrations, in the White House and at the United Nations. Her ceaseless activism for the hostages led Time magazine to recently name her one of the world’s “100 Most Influential People of 2024.”
His parents have also been active on social media, posting at least once every day about their son. The day of the Hamas video’s release, the couple responded on Instagram. “Hersh, if you can hear us, we heard your voice today for the first time in 201 days and if you can hear us, I am telling you, we are telling you, we love you, stay strong, survive,” his mother said.
Goldberg-Polin is one of the estimated 253 people who were taken hostage on Oct. 7 during the Hamas massacre in Israel. According to the Israeli government, 133 people remain in captivity, though fewer than 100 are believed to remain alive.
No one but other hostage families can walk in the Goldberg-Polin family’s shoes, but their community has shown unwavering support from the day he was abducted. Soon after the massacre, several members of their Jerusalem synagogue, Hakhel, spearheaded an initiative to make Hersh Goldberg-Polin a household name.
“Hakhel feels responsible to support Jon and Rachel,” said Oshrat Shoham, an attorney and member of the synagogue. The synagogue, in cooperation with other shuls and organizations, has organized prayer gatherings to mark 100, 150 and 200 days in captivity. One outdoor gathering attracted 2,000 people on a freezing night.
In addition to the red banners they created, Hakhel members designed seating cards for Passover seders. One side featured the words “Hope is Mandatory” — something Goldberg-Polin’s parents say often — and “Hersh, we are waiting for you to come home.” On the other side there was a small photo of him and a place for sedergoers to write him a message. Members of the community posted their completed seating cards to a WhatsApp group.
That was the start of Passover, just days before the video was made public.
The video is the first sign that Goldberg-Polin, who has dual Israeli and American citizenship, survived having his left lower arm and hand being blown off by a Hamas grenade while he tried to hide in a bomb shelter near the Nova music festival. The video has also given the family even more strength to continue to fight for the hostages’ release. Goldberg-Polin is thin and pale in the footage, but the stump of his dominant arm appears to have healed. Such a recovery would likely have taken months, offering hope that the video was filmed recently and that he remains alive.
Bob Trachtenberg, who lives in the Baka neighborhood adjacent to Mekor Haim, said the video was a hopeful sign that many of the hostages have survived.
“I’m glad Hersh is alive and hope that he’s able to come home soon, along with all the other hostages,” Trachtenberg said. But he is well aware that Hamas is cruel and manipulative. “I hope the video was made recently and that he is still alive,” he said. “He wasn’t holding up a newspaper with a date.”
Hamas has since released a video of two additional hostages, Israeli Omri Miran and Israeli American Keith Siegel, which might have been timed to encourage war-weary Israelis to put even more pressure on their government to agree to a permanent cease-fire.
Releasing videos of hostages is a “very calculated strategy, extremely manipulative and dehumanizing,” said Gerald Steinberg, a professor emeritus of political studies at Bar-Ilan University. “It is the last means Hamas has to attempt to survive an Israeli operation in Rafah, the last stronghold Hamas has. They want Israel to capitulate and allow them to survive and rebuild.”
Meanwhile, the Goldberg-Polin family must contend with deeply mixed emotions.
“Initially, we were just crying,” Goldberg-Polin’s mother told NBC News in an interview in the family’s home the day after the video aired. “On one hand, this was a tremendous validation,” but “on the other hand, we see him — he is in captivity, he is obviously suffering. That is very painful. I mean, ‘painful’ is too small of a word of what it’s like for any parent.”
His father added: “Seeing that video just further lights the fire that we need to push all leaders, all of the world, every leader in this region, everybody who has been involved in negotiations. We need to get all these people home.”