The parents of slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin took part in the annual Sacks Conversation at the St John’s Wood Synagogue in London on Sunday evening, marking five years since the death of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.
Rachel and Jon spoke on a panel discussion about how Sacks’s writings have shaped their lives, and how his ideas helped sustain them since their son was kidnapped into the Gaza Strip by terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, the Rabbi Sacks Legacy organization said in a statement.
The two were asked what question they would pose to the rabbi were they to meet him today. Rachel replied, “I would ask Rabbi Sacks if he had found Hersh yet, and if he could teach him some of what he taught me,” the statement read.
Jon, who has studied Rabbi Sacks’s work throughout an entire year’s Torah cycle, said he would ask him to teach world leaders how to balance compassion with toughness.
The Goldberg-Polin couple talked about their grief, faith and the how familiar Torah passages have taken on new meaning over the past year.
Jon drew on figures such as Nachshon ben Aminadav and Joshua and Calev as models of courage and resolve. Rachel reflected on the Torah’s call to “choose life,” describing it as a daily discipline rather than an abstract idea, according to Rabbi Sacks Legacy.
The solidarity of the Jewish community worldwide was also highlighted. Rachel called it a “symbiotic” embrace that has strengthened the two throughout their ordeal.
She urged young Jews who are struggling with the war to extend to Israel the same democratic generosity they value at home.
Jon noted that when honest dialogue proves impossible and others look down at Jews, Jews must keep their dignity and lift their heads higher as Sacks has taught.
The panel discussion took place before an audience of more than 1,200 people, said the Rabbi Sacks Legacy organization.
The central feature of the evening was the launch of the Koren Sacks Humash, a bounded book edition published in September of Sacks’s translation and commentary on the Torah.
Gila Sacks, the daughter of the late rabbi, closed the evening, calling the sight of congregants holding the new Humash “a blessing beyond words” and noting that her father’s commentary has now become part of the weekly rhythm of Jewish life.
She reflected on the layout—the Torah text surrounded by layers of interpretation—as a reminder of the dignity of disagreement and the need to make space for multiple voices.
Israeli-American abductee Goldberg-Polin, 23, was laid to rest at Jerusalem’s Har HaMenuchot cemetery in September 2024, two days after his body was retrieved from a tunnel in southern Gaza.
He was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and was raised in Israel from the age of eight. Friends and family described him as passionate about soccer, music and travel.
Goldberg-Polin was wounded and abducted from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im during the Hamas-led invasion of the northwestern Negev. Hamas terrorists executed him and five other hostages with him shortly before Israeli forces found their bodies on Aug. 31, 2024.
