Post by Fr David Neuhaus SJ | 24 April 2026
A mother grieves for her son
Rachel Goldberg-Polin lost her son Hersh during the Gaza war. He had been kidnapped on October 7, 2023. And he was executed in August 2024 by his captors together with five other Israelis. I watched this video interview with her and wept.
Rachel was one of the most prominent voices among the relatives of the Israeli hostages. She travelled the world trying to find ways to get her son and all those kidnapped released. Eloquent, a fluent English speaker, she communicated a message of grief, longing, incredible pain. This interview with her is a masterpiece as she finds words to communicate the loss she has experienced. She does not give in to the sometimes ideological discourse of the interviewer.
Many other mothers, Israelis, Palestinians and others, have passed through this valley of death. However, Rachel, a fluent English speaker, highly intelligent and educated, is able to express what she has gone through in words that are an indictment of our world, its wars, its continued violence, and the indifference of too many.
Grief is not comparable. There is no more and no less. In listening to her, I could also hear the tens of thousands of Palestinian, Iranian, Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli mothers who are mourning their children. And of course, mothers all around the world, who have lost their beloved in ongoing wars. Sharing grief is not a solution to any problem but it should elicit a strong impulse to change our reality that continues to produce mourning mothers.
Rachel can be heard on Western media. As a US citizen, she elicits instant sympathy and understanding. She is just like so many other Wester mothers. Sadly, many other mothers are not given a voice. They do not speak our language. They struggle to find words. However, listening closely to her, as one mother among so many others, perhaps more will awaken from their slumber and join those already struggling to free Palestine, because only when Palestine is free can Israel be free. Only when we are all free from the forces of death, can we all live life to the full.
View the video here: Because of its subject matter, YouTube has placed an age restriction on this interview. To watch it, click “Watch on YouTube” below and sign in to your account.