TIMES OF ISRAEL
USA Today names Rachel Goldberg‑Polin as a Woman of the Year
Sue Serkes
March 19, 2026

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. READ MORE

CALL ME BACK WITH DAN SENOR Podcast: The WHY of this year’s Passover with Rachel Goldberg-Polin As Passover approaches, Dan Senor speaks with Rachel Goldberg-Polin about how this year’s Seder lands differently. In a moment shaped by war, loss, and uneasy relief, they explore how the rituals of Passover hold both joy and sorrow—and why that tension is the point. From the Exodus story to the symbols on the Seder table, Rachel reflects on memory, meaning, gratitude, and the challenge of holding both relief and restraint. Less about retelling the past, this conversation asks what it means to be free right now.