Hamas hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s mom shares heartbreaking Mother’s Day message, ‘I don’t want to let you go’

A woman whose son is being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza shared a heartbreaking message for him on Mother’s Day. 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s mom, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, posted a video where she is seen reading a letter she had written on the eve of her son’s third birthday.

“Because today is Mother’s Day, I decided to read you this letter that I wrote to Hersh the night before he turned 3 years old,” she said before reading the note. She was seen wearing a tape numbered 219 on her shirt – the number of days Hersh, an Israeli-American man, has been held hostage after being abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.

“Hersh, these last three years have been the most challenging and best years of my life,” Rachel read from the letter. “Nothing can begin to describe my love for you.”

Rachel recalled how she became emotional peeking into Hersh’s room at night, watching the boy as he slept in his blue onesie and held a teddy bear.

“I gently touched your long, soft, curly hair that we will cut for the first time in a few days. I went back into my room and I cried and cried,” she wrote.

Rachel said that her husband would go look at Hersh and come back and say, “There will be many more of these.” She went on to read the translation of a Yiddish lullaby, “Your mother will cry a thousand tears before you grow to be a man.”

‘My ultimate goal as a parent is to help you become a confident’

Rachel said of her son, “One day when you have children, and I can’t even fathom that now, you will know this kind of so much more than love.”

“You are my baby. My ultimate goal as a parent is to help you become a confident, self-sufficient and independent person. But that means you won’t need me,” she added, highlighting the fact that she has become one of the most vocal advocates calling for the release of her son, as well as the other hostages. “And I think that is what’s causing my heart to ache so much right now. I want to raise you to become a healthy person of the world.”

Notably, Rachel was named to Time100: The World’s Most Influential People. “I don’t want to let you go,” she said.

“Time moves so quickly. To understand this, one only needs to look at one’s children. The days fly by and before I know it, we will be taking you to college,” she read. “I can’t imagine what a basketcase I will be then.”

“I wish this could all go more slowly. I treasure each and every moment I spend with you. I am so blessed that it scares me. What did Dada and I do to get so lucky to have you?” she added. “I wish you the best of everything this world has to offer – love, happiness, kindness, success.”

“But most of all, I wish you a child like yourself, who will bring to you all the light and delight that you have brought to me,” she said. “I love you to bits, Mama.”

Rachel concluded the video by saying, “Hersh, thank you for making me a mother,” adding, “I love you. Stay strong. Survive.” She then began to sob.

Last month, Hamas published a propaganda video of Hersh, where he was seen criticising the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as did other hostages in the past. Hersh was seen with a buzzed haircut, his left arm is missing below the elbow. He lost his limb during the attack on the Supernova music festival.