Yael Eckstein, IFCJ President, Speaks to an Israeli Hostage's Mother on Heartbreak and Hope
As President and CEO of The Fellowship, Yael Eckstein oversees all programs and serves as the international spokesperson for the organization. With over a decade of nonprofit experience in multiple roles, Yael has the rare distinction of being a woman leading one of the world's largest religious charitable organizations.
In 2021, she launched her podcast, Nourish Your Biblical Roots, in which she shares spiritual insights and lessons from the Torah, and invites leading Christian and Jewish thought leaders to discuss Jewish-Christian relations and Israel’s significance on the world stage. She is the 2023 recipient of the Jerusalem Post's Humanitarian Award, and in 2020, 2021, and 2023 was named to the publication's list of 50 Most Influential Jews. Born outside of Chicago, Yael is now based in Israel with her husband and their four children.
In a recent episode of her podcast, Yael had the chance to speak with Rachel Goldberg - a Jewish mother currently living in Israel. Goldberg's 23-year-old son was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. In the podcast she went into more detail about her son's life, what has been happening since that day, and what her experience has been like as someone who still makes it a priority to nourish her own biblical roots despite everything going on in her life and the world at the moment.
A Mother's Love Knows No Bounds
Yael Eckstein, IFCJ President and Rachel Goldberg began by discussing the latter’s son, Hersh, in more detail. At 23 years old, Hersh has always been very curious. His mother described him as smart, funny, sharp, and a voracious reader. He always wants to learn more about the world and about people in general.
He is also someone who loves to travel, even as a young boy. Starting in the first grade, he began saying that he was going to travel the world one day. As a passionate music lover, he also just recently returned from a summer trip from Europe where he went to six countries and several music festivals along the way. He spent nine weeks in total backpacking across Europe with what his mother described as a "teeny, tiny backpack." Rachel Goldberg also took great care in saying that Hersh is not a materialistic person. She described him as being very low-maintenance and low-key.
The topic then turned to the events of October 7 - which is the day that Hersh was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists during their attacks.
October 7, 2023, was a Saturday evening. One night before on Friday, Hersh, Rachel, and her two daughters attended synagogue. They then went to a friend's home for their traditional Sabbath dinner. Rachel described the evening as a "great time" - one that was comfortable with an excellent dynamic. It was three families coming together, complete with a bunch of kids, to truly enjoy themselves within the context of their spirituality.
At roughly 11:00 pm that night, Hersh told everyone that he was leaving to go pick up his best friend to do something fun. The plan was for them to go camping somewhere - Rachel didn't know exactly where. So Hersh did what he always did - he kissed his mother, he hugged their hosts, and he said "goodbye." Soon, he was off to carry out the rest of his plans. That was the last time that Rachel saw him.
At 7:30 am on Saturday, Rachel was in her kitchen having a cup of tea. Her husband had already left to go to the Synagogue. It was then that sirens started to go off in their neighborhood in Jerusalem, which is unusual. Rachel ran to wake up the rest of the family so that they could all get to the bomb shelter. Rachel took her phone because her mind immediately turned to Hersh and his friend.
When she turned on her phone, two WhatsApp messages popped up from 8:11 a.m. that morning. They were the types of messages that every parent fears: one just said "I love you," while the other said, "I'm sorry." As soon as she saw those messages, Rachel's throat closed. Her stomach clenched. Everything was just so ominous, and she knew that wherever Hersh was, something terrible was happening.
A Light Through the Darkness
Details about exactly what happened to Hersh and his friend are understandably scarce at this point. What Rachel was able to piece together through various sources is that Hersh was in a bomb shelter that was attacked by Hamas. After an initial attack, eyewitnesses said that Hersh's left arm below the elbow had been shot off. He had somehow managed to fashion a tourniquet for himself.
He was then put into the back of a Hamas pickup truck that was driven towards Gaza. The last time his cell phone emitted a signal was at 10:25 am on Saturday morning.
There has been a fair amount of interest in Hersh's story in particular because he's an American from the Chicago area. Video of him getting loaded onto that Hamas truck actually appeared on CNN during an interview that Anderson Cooper had with an Israeli soldier.
Obviously, the weeks following the events of October 7 have been a challenging period for not just Goldberg’s family, but for the world. It was then that Yael Eckstein turned the conversation towards where Goldberg's strength comes from.
To her credit, Rachel Goldberg was clear - she doesn't know that she would call it "strength," necessarily. She said that when the first eyewitness told her and her family that Hersh's arm had been blown up and that he got up and just walked out of the room, she felt like her heart suffered the same fate. She felt that she was just walking forward through life, unable to fully process the horrors she had just learned.
She says that she's thankful that we were created with a psychology that allows us all to walk forward even when we're in what seems like insurmountable agony. As a person of faith, she prays every morning. She's done so for years. She cherishes Psalms. All of this has been enormously helpful. The same is true of the people from across the planet who have gone out of their way to say that they're praying not just for a resolution to this terrible conflict, but for Hersh in particular.
Today, Rachel Goldberg is doing what she can to maintain that strength and hope. There are "Bring Hersh Home" Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages. Those pages have the contact information of senators from across the United States. Every day, there are people who pick up the phone, call their senator, and attempt to get Hersh back to his loved ones.
Rachel Goldberg says "We all have our own personal private Egypt that we struggle with in life. For some people, it's an emotion. Some people struggle with depression or anxiety. Some people struggle with smoking or drinking."
She finished by saying "We all have our own private Egypt. But right now, people are in ‘actual’ Egypt, they are in captivity, and we are begging for people to help get these people out." Indeed, these are the types of conversations that are incredibly important to have.
That is a sentiment that will only become even more true in the difficult days, weeks, and months ahead.
