Hope – with Rachel Goldberg-Polin

After fighting publicly for the return of her son Hersh from Gaza, Rachel Goldberg-Polin joins the podcast to reflect on grief, uncertainty, love, and the challenge of continuing to live after profound loss.

Drawing from her new book When We See You Again, Rachel speaks with her characteristic honesty about the experience of mourning, the pressure people feel to “get better,” and why she believes grief is not something to overcome, but an expression of enduring love. She reflects on the stories and ideas that shape her thinking during Hersh’s captivity and wrestles openly with questions of destiny, suffering, faith, and purpose.

The conversation also explores what Rachel learned while moving through rooms of power and influence during the global campaign to free the hostages, and why she ultimately came away with a more complicated understanding of how the world works.

Finally, Rachel shares what she believes Hersh’s legacy asks of all of us: more humility, more listening, and a willingness to move away from extremism and back toward each other.

Guest Bio:

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, born and raised in Chicago, is an educator who lives in Jerusalem. She and her husband Jon are the parents of three children. Rachel is the author of When We See You Again, a portrait of pain and love in the wake of unthinkable tragedy.