USA Today has named Rachel Goldberg‑Polin as one of its Women of the Year.

The Jerusalem resident, who was raised in Chicago, became a symbol of the fight to release the 251 hostages abducted during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught, when terrorists surged through the border and murdered 1,200 people in southern Israel.

Goldberg‑Polin’s 23-year-old son, Hersh, was taken hostage from the Nova music festival, where his arm was blown off by a grenade in the Hamas massacre. In August 2024, he was murdered in a Gaza tunnel by Hamas terrorists along with five other captives.

“Her commitment to save as many of the 251 hostages as possible from the throes of Hamas captivity never wavered, even after Hersh was returned to her in a body bag,” a profile about her in the American daily said. She and her husband Jon Polin became two of the most recognizable faces of the movement to free the hostages.

The article said that Goldberg‑Polin, 56, still finds it hard to go out, even to the grocery store, without people recognizing her, even when she is partially disguised.

“I’m still very much this symbol of pain and a trigger for a lot of people’s trauma,” she said.

Speaking up for the hostages, even after losing her son, she traveled to four continents to meet with world leaders, the article said.

She revealed that on one occasion, she was so scared of a meeting that she inscribed part of Psalm 118, reading, “God is with me, I shall not fear,” on a note and stuck it inside her bra.

Goldberg-Polin still receives an average of 100 messages each day from people of all faiths and backgrounds around the world who have lost dear ones or been in pain.

The article said, “With a mix of anecdotes, wisdom, and talk of spirituality, she gives people language to know what they are experiencing. She mothers the bereaved – for who hasn’t known what it is like to experience loss?“

It continued, “Her heart breaks open, creating a prism that teaches us something about her, but really, it’s there teaching us something about ourselves. And in a time of political silos, echo chambers that are served as the catch of the day, polished influencer feeds, and a cacophony of quotes to swipe endlessly – her cadence, her analogies, her stories remind us of what it’s like to be human.”

Goldberg-Polin’s memoir, “When We See You Again,” will be published on April 21.

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Rachel Goldberg-Polin

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