On my way home I always encounter traffic in Talpiyot, but tonight I was surprised that there was more than usual. I soon realized that it was because of Rachel Imeinu’s yahrzeit. On this sacred day, tens of thousands visit her grave to cry and share their pain with our mother – Mama Rachel.
Rachel Imeinu
Rachel is the one who cries for us all – her children, the Jewish people. Yaakov buried Rachel on the road out of Yerushalayim (that I travel home on) so she could cry for our ancestors as they were exiled. Hashem sent Yirmiyahu HaNavi to Rachel to ask her to cry for us which she has continuously done ever since. She emphatically cries as a result of our pain and suffering, but mainly over the exile that has placed us far from Hashem, her, and our other Avot and Imahot.
Hashem famously told Rachel to stop crying. He promised her that her children would eventually return to Eretz Yisrael. But Rachel did not and has not stopped crying. Though we have begun to return, Rachel continues crying because there is still so much reason to — especially over the last year. In fact, many more women and men have joined her crying circle over the past months. Some of these women share Rachel’s name. Two of them share the completely same name.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin
In the past months, two Rachel Goldbergs have captivated us with their heart-wrenching cries.
The first is Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Hy”d, who emerged as the English-speaking voice of the hostages and their families and traveled the world to advocate on their behalf. Like Rachel Imeinu, Rachel Goldberg-Polin refused to stop crying and refused to give up until her child returned home.
Though she spoke at the UN and to the Pope and U.S. President, her efforts did not secure her son’s release. After holding him captive in Gaza for almost an entire year, Hamas brutally murdered Hersh, shooting him six times at close range. Rachel and her husband Jon, accompanied by tens of thousands, buried his emaciated and bullet-ridden body in Yerushalayim on erev Rosh Chodesh Elul.
Since Hersh’s murder, his mother Rachel, like our quintessential mother, Rachel Imeinu, has continued sharing her thoughts and emotions – those of a bereaved mother – with us. Rachel writes and share personal videos that express her feelings and offer chizuk to those suffering with her. And they are having a major impact: over 170,000 of her followers hear her cries.
Though it is excruciatingly painful for her, she continues ensuring that the unthinkable suffering of the hostages and their families remains at the forefront of our individual and collective consciousness. She works hard to help us adequately understand what the families, both those praying for salvation and those awaiting a funeral, are going through.
Rebbetzin Rachel Goldberg
A few weeks after Hersh’s murder, another Rachel Goldberg emerged. This second one is a rebbetzin and the widow of a soldier. She was married to Captain Rabbi Avi Goldberg, Hy”d, a warm and inspiring army rabbi who was killed in Lebanon at the end of Chodesh Tishrei.
Rav Avi and his wife, Rebbetzin Rachel Goldberg, have been an inspiring educational team in Israel and abroad. After uplifting the community in Memphis, TN while on shlichut there, they have together been a significant force in the Yerushalayim religious community. In addition to raising their eight children and filling their formal teaching positions, they have been the spiritual nucleus of the Mekor Chayim and Baka community in Yerushalayim.
The beautiful couple inspired thousands of people who gathered on Har Hertzl on a cold Yerushalayim night to pay their last respects. Tens of thousands visited the shiva home, which focused not only on memory and inspiration but also on how to respond to the tragedy of Avi’s loss.
Rebbetzin Rachel Goldberg, the mother of eight, sat together with her children and called upon all of us to appreciate the hardship and sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of families who have been sending their sons, husbands, and fathers off to fight for over a year on our behalf.
Many reservists are now returning for third and fourth rounds of service that have far surpassed two hundred or even three hundred days of service. Parents, spouses, and children have endured hundreds of sleepless nights followed by days in which they have had to manage without their loved ones.
And, of course, over seven hundred of our soldiers and their families have paid the ultimate price. Many of these soldiers have left behind widows and orphans. Since the beginning of the war, over 300 women have lost their husbands, over 650 children have lost a parent, over 1600 parents have lost their children, and over 2,700 Israelis have lost a sibling.
Rabbi Avi Goldberg was killed during an especially painful week. Most of the 22 soldiers killed that week were reservists who left behind wives and children – some of them many children. Avi left behind eight, and his comrade, Sergeant Major Shaul Moyal, left behind ten. In total, 66 children were orphaned that week.
Rebbetzin Rachel called upon the Jewish people to appreciate the load being carried by too few. She cried out to everyone, all sectors of the population, to lend a shoulder by drafting and fighting on our behalf. No eye remained dry; no heart remained whole.
Our Mothers Rachel Remind Us
The cries of these two Rachel Goldbergs are an essential reminder of our people’s continued pain and suffering. Thirteen months ago, on October 7, we were all shocked, horrified, and terrified by the Hamas atrocities. We all rallied behind the hostages, the evacuees, the soldiers, and their families.
Over a year has passed, and the war has become old news. But it continues to be very real, very raw, and very painful. There are still 101 hostages, tens of thousands fighting on the fronts, and millions targeted by missiles. We must remain fully emotionally engaged with the situation and the suffering of our brothers and sisters. Continuing to pay close attention to the cries of our two contemporary mothers Rachel ensures that we do so.
Rachel Imeinu Keeps Crying
This year, on Rachel Imeinu’s yahrzeit we can all identify with Rav Chaim Shmulevitz’s petition to her. During his visits to her kever, Rav Chaim said to her: “Mother Rachel, HaKadosh Baruch Hu told you ‘Refrain your voice from weeping,’ but I, Chaim your son, am asking you, ‘Cry, Mother Rachel! We no longer have the strength to endure exile. Weep for your sons, Mother Rachel, that we should be redeemed already.’” Rav Chaim explained to his talmidim that though Hashem, Rachel’s father, had the right to ask his daughter to stop crying, we, Rachel’s children, can still ask her to cry for us. A mother is always there to cry for her children.
In these difficult times, we, too, turn to Rachel Imeinu and her contemporary namesakes, the two Rachel Goldberg mothers, and ask them all to keep crying on our behalf. We ask the Rachels to continue crying to us and for us until the pain we feel for each other merits our complete redemption.
May it come speedily in our days.
*Dedicated in memory of the six Golani soldiers just killed in Lebanon.
