Rachel Goldberg-Polin on Losing a Son in Gaza.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, a mother who lost her son Hirsch to Hamas captivity and execution on October 7, 2023, delivers a searing, unflinching account of grief, resilience, and moral clarity in her debut memoir, *When We See You Again*. Her story is not just one of personal tragedy but of a profound commitment to humanity in the face of unimaginable loss. She recounts the final moments before Hirsch’s abduction—his casual goodbye on Shabbat night, the sirens, the silence of his unreturned phone—as a moment that shattered her world. Yet, rather than retreat into anger or despair, she became a global voice for the hostages, advocating not for vengeance but for the return of all lives, Israeli and Palestinian alike. Her most powerful moment came at the Democratic National Convention, where she expected scorn but instead heard 24,000 people chant, 'Bring them home,' a moment of collective empathy that stunned her. Now, living in the 'after'—a world where part of her is buried with her son—she clings to Viktor Frankl’s mantra: 'When you have a why, you can bear any how.' Her mission is not to mourn endlessly, but to transform grief into action, to help rebuild a world that can hold both pain and purpose. What makes her story exceptional is not just the depth of her sorrow, but her refusal to let it define her as a victim. Instead, she frames her pain as a lens through which to see the shared suffering of all civilians caught in war. She rejects the false binary of 'us vs.