Reflections From When We See You Again By Rachel Goldberg Polin

October 7, 2026

In the days and weeks leading up to October 7th, I revisited Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s remarkably poignant and painful reflections in her book, When We See You Again. Her words and insights are profound and penetrating. By sharing her grief so openly, she gives us language for a sorrow that feels beyond words.

Goldberg-Polin is a gifted educator. In her appearances on Dan Senor’s podcast, Call Me Back, she illuminates the meaning of our chagim in ways that speak both to those deeply versed in Jewish tradition and to those just beginning to explore it. She brings that same gift to describing the pain of losing her beloved son, Hersh. Abducted by Hamas from the Nova music festival near Re’im on October 7, 2023, Hersh was murdered in captivity in August 2024. He would have turned twenty-six on October 3rd. She describes her grief as chronic, ever-present, constant. Gnawing.

The book offers a master class in chesed… what it means to support others in need, how to accompany someone through suffering, and how to draw on faith during an unimaginable crisis. Drawing often on Viktor Frankl, she explores the importance of having a “why”...a sense of purpose that gives us a reason to keep moving forward.

A second motif, brought to the fore by Jon Polin in his afterword, comes from Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s Kol Dodi Dofek, first delivered as an address in 1956 and later published in English as Fate and Destiny. When confronted with suffering, our task is to move beyond asking why it happened and toward asking what it calls upon us to do. What can we learn? How should we respond? What responsibility do we now carry?

Later in the essay, Rabbi Soloveitchik calls upon us to deepen our awareness of the shared fate and suffering of our people. It is not enough to be concerned only with our own well-being and that of our families. We must feel the anguish of our brothers and sisters, pray on their behalf, and translate that concern into concrete acts of care and support.

As we mark October 7th, these reflections ask something of each of us… How can we continue to support those who are suffering, whether in Israel or just down the block? How can we ensure that our concern finds expression in what we do?

Through their words and their example, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin have given us a framework to contemplate and emulate. May the Goldberg family and all those who suffered loss from those taken from us on October 7th and its aftermath find nechama, and may the memory of Hersh’s precious soul continue to inspire goodness in the world.

SIncerely,

Rabbi Jonathan Knapp  

Head of School