Rachel Goldberg and John Polin's lives changed dramatically on October 7, when they received a text message from their son saying, “I love you. I'm sorry.” It was the last direct communication they had with their son Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was at the Tribe Nova music festival when Hamas militants stormed the event and murdered at least 260 participants. Hersh was one of more than two hundred hostages. That's when the fight to get Hersh back home began.
For 330 days, Rachel and John have supported the mass marches in Israel demanding the government release the hostages. Their demands have also crossed borders. Over the course of those nearly eleven months, Hersh's family, along with others, has met Pope Franciswent to the United Nations and even shared his testimony at Democratic convention that made the candidacy official Kamala Harris's run for the US presidential election Like that fateful October 7, today their lives have once again taken another course, the worst that parents can imagine. Hersh's body, along with those of five other hostages, It was discovered by the Israeli army in some tunnels in Gaza.