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Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s Commencement Speech Must Be Heard
Lior Zaltzman
May 28, 2025
Last week, on May 22, in New York’s Louis Armstrong Stadium, the city’s Yeshiva University held its graduation ceremony. Its head, Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, presented an honorary doctorate to a woman who has become a hero to so many of us since October 7. I’m speaking, of course about Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of the late and great Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was killed brutally by Hamas along with five others while in captivity. (An award named after Hersh — the Ohr Shel Hersh Award— was also inaugurated at the ceremony.. Her speech for the new graduates contained in it beautiful guidelines for how to live in order to make the world a better place. She started out with gratitude, noting that the root for the Hebrew word for “gratitude/thank you” is also found in the Hebrew word for “Jewish.” She talked about Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, sending to their parents comfort from the heavens and saying that her heart and soul are with them, and that they did everything right. READ MORE
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