MORNING MUSINGS
For Rachel Goldberg-Polin and the Rest of Us
Peter Himmelman
April 20, 2026

Driving to the dentist this morning was difficult. Not only was I dealing with a sore tooth and struggling to find a parking spot, I’d been listening to Rachel Goldberg-Polin on 60 Minutes, speaking about losing her only son, Hersh, to Hamas terrorists. It’s hard to find parking when your eyes are shedding tears on busy Wilshire Boulevard. It’s hard to be in the world when you’re listening to a woman who, with unearthly grace, indescribable dignity, and bottomless sorrow, is on national television attempting to express the inexpressible. Her composure feels like someone lifting the back of a pickup truck, without wincing, without a single complaint. How lucky we are to have her in our midst. She with her grief, she with her strength, she with her head held high, despite all odds. READ MORE

CBS NEWS: 60 MINUTES Rachel Goldberg-Polin: Learning how to live after the murder of her son In February 2025, Hamas released Israeli hostage Or Levy, who had spent time in a tunnel with Hersh. When Levy reunited with his family and his 3-year-old son, he learned his wife, Eynav, was killed in the attack. He was also told Hersh had been murdered. “It broke me. And I told my parents right away, ‘I want to meet their parents,'” Levy said. Levy met with Rachel and Jon five days after his release and told them their son wasn’t broken — he laughed, he smiled, and he repeated a mantra: “He who has a why can bear any how.” Levy credits that mantra with saving his life. It’s a phrase Hersh got from “Man’s Search for Meaning,” a 1946 memoir by concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl, who’d adapted a similar saying by Friedrich Nietzsche. To view 60 Minutes episode, click here

DAN SENOR CALL ME BACK  Rachel Goldberg-Polin What does grief actually look like, and what does it mean to live with it? In this live conversation recorded at Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center on the eve of Yom HaZikaron, Rachel Goldberg-Polin joins Dan Senor to reflect on love, loss, faith, and the story behind her new book, about the loss of her son, Hersh, who was taken hostage on October 7 and later killed in captivity. This conversation explores how Rachel understands suffering, why she rejects the idea that grief “gets better,” and how she holds onto faith, love, and what she calls “tragic optimism.” It is a raw and deeply human discussion about what remains when everything changes, and what it means to keep going. To view podcast click here

Purchase Rachel’s book When We See You Again