Emhoff, D.C. Jewish community mourn Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other murdered hostages

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, at a vigil for the D.C.-area Jewish community on Monday evening following the murder of six Israeli hostages in Gaza, expressed his condolences and described the personal pain he feels about the murder of Hersh Goldberg-Polin by Hamas terrorists.

Emhoff, addressing the hundreds of people who filled the sanctuary of D.C.’s Adas Israel Congregation, said that, although it’s difficult, he thinks it’s important for him to use his voice and his platform as the second gentleman to elevate the stories of the hostages and the sorrow that the entire Jewish community is feeling.

“There’s comfort in community, but standing on this bimah, I must be direct: This is hard. This is raw. I’m gutted,” Emhoff said. “I stand before you, yes, as the second gentleman of the United States … But in this moment, I’m here as a fellow congregant, a fellow mourner, and as a Jew who feels connected to all of you.”

He emphasized that Harris understands these feelings as well.

“I share what I’m feeling with Kamala as my partner, as my wife — not just as our vice president,” Emhoff said. “She knows. She gets it. She cares. She’s committed. Hersh’s loss feels so personal to the two of us, just like it feels to all of you.”

Emhoff stressed the need to keep the story of Oct. 7 and of the hostages in the public eye, a lesson he said Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, have taken to heart.

“After nearly 11 months of being consumed by this hell, they were somehow clear-eyed enough to understand that there are many others out there who don’t know this story, and even worse, those who don’t believe,” he said. “What Rachel and Jon know is that unless we tell this story again, and again, we have no hope of ‘Never Again.’”

He said that he and Harris had spoken over the weekend to Goldberg-Polin’s parents and that they had struggled to find words to properly express their condolences.

“With this unspeakable tragedy that they were going through, they were actually comforting us on the call, if you can believe that,” Emhoff said.

He said that the bereaved parents had also asked for updates on the progress of talks to release the remaining 101 hostages, and said that they had told Harris in “no uncertain terms [that] they do not want Hersh’s death to be in vain.”

Emhoff praised them for speaking “with such grace, such compassion, such strength” and for continuing to advocate for the other hostages. He said Harris, President Joe Biden and the administration are “working around the clock to get the deal done.”

“They are not giving up, and neither can we … not ever, not until every hostage is reunited with their family,” Emhoff said. He also vowed “Hamas’s leaders will pay for these crimes.”

The event included tearful remarks from LeElle Slifer, cousin of Carmel Gat, who was also murdered by Hamas last week, and Leat Corinne Unger, cousin of hostage Omer Shem Tov.

“Carmel and the other five hostages murdered this weekend should be more than a memory,” Slifer said, sobbing. “Their names … should be etched deep in the very fabric of your soul. Shout their stories to the world and demand that Hamas release [the remaining hostages]. We all failed Carmel. But like the guardian angel she always was, she wouldn’t want us to fail the others.”

Slifer also expressed frustration with the international pressure against Israel’s operations in Rafah: “‘All eyes on Rafah,’ they said. But could no one see the hostages in Rafah? Could no one see our Carmeli?”

Unger also emphasized the importance of speaking up.

“Right now, I, we, the world is failing in setting the most basic example,” Unger said. “We are standing idly by watching humanity collapse and fall. We are letting evil prevail over good and I ask myself, ‘Is this the world that my children deserve?’ Is this the world that your children deserve?”

She said she’d called Goldberg-Polin this weekend to apologize for “failing her, for failing her family, for failing Hersh, and she replied to me, ‘Hersh’s death better bring Omer home.’”

Unger said that the international community must pressure Hamas and other stakeholders to ensure that a deal is finalized. “There is no other option … we no longer have time to waste. We must stand up for what is right. We have lives to save. We have debts to repay. Let’s make sure we don’t have to apologize to another hostage or family.”

Organizers played video of Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s speech from her son’s funeral. At the close of the event, dozens of rabbis and cantors from the DC area gathered on the bimah to lead the crowd in singing Acheinu and Hatikvah.

Rabbis from each of the major D.C. synagogues from the Conservative, Reform and Orthodox denominations — Adas Israel, Washington Hebrew Congregation and Kesher Israel — led the crowd in prayer or delivered remarks, as did the leaders of the local Jewish federation and Jewish Community Relations Council and the CEOs of the National Council of Jewish Women and American Jewish Committee.