John Polin departs from his beloved son Hersh

her an Ben [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] sh [Music] appoint for yourself a teacher and acquire for yourself a companion and judge all people with the benefit of the doubt some ask what is it that connects these two distinct parts of this verse first appointing for yourself a teacher a companion and second judging all people with the benefit of the doubt but this verse is Harsh appoint for yourself a teacher and acquire for yourself a companion H always used his intellect to strengthen his companionship from the time H was a toddler he had a wisdom that always expanded my own thinking he was my Rob my teacher my companion I knew that as we walked hand in hand to get my Sunday morning coffee in Berkeley I better be ready for some challenging questions from a three and a half-year-old HS by six he was into challenging his memorization topic by topic on a family Passover trip to Florida a man came into the lunchroom one day and exclaimed there's a little kid out there Fielding questions about US Presidential trivia he knows every answer and now he's charging people a dollar per question and it was obvious who this kid was and her was always self assured when we told seven-year-old H that we were moving to Israel making Aliah we told him that his name hers could be challenging for Israelis maybe you want to become s which is the same meaning maybe you want to take on a nickname we said to him and H looked up at us and said confidently I'm HS Israelis will deal with that as her got older his curiosity memorization and sh assuredness evolved into deep independent thinking her thought about issues and developed principled conclusions in sixth grade at a group interview at himl farb the teacher posed a question a question to the visiting sixth grade boys something about Middle East politics and he offered two answers a more liberal answer and a more conservative answer sending the boys who answered each to different sides of the room that night H told us about the interview and that he went to the side of the room that he did and we said how many others were on your side and he Shrugged and said just me 10ish years ago at her's encouragement after he learned about this issue our family took to the streets to fight to protect the rights of African Asylum Seekers this was after H searched our house and declared to us if the police get really aggressive in pursuing them we can hide at least one in each dishwasher and the second part of the mishna judge all people with the benefit of the doubt a wise Diplomat whom we met on this excruciating 330 day Journey told us you obviously don't have to agree with the other side on an isue but you must truly take the time to understand them we've learned increasingly in these 11 months how much Hersh exemplified the guidance of this wise diplomat her's friends former campers people he met at various music festivals and so many more across nationalities religions and ages have reached out to us to tell us of course they always had a great time hanging out with her but they also thoroughly enjoyed real meaningful conversations with him in which he stretched their thinking just a few of the topics that hch has challenged us on in recent years include the ethics eating animals the pros and cons of nation states Israeli settlement policy H observance the value of a University degree consumer consumption and so much more always seeking to understand the other and always with dignity and respect one of the most fitting posts I saw about her yesterday was the one that [Music] said may his memory be a re ution the most common word that I've received from people thousands of messages is I'm sorry H we failed you we all failed you you would not have failed you you would have pushed harder for justice you would have worked to understand the other to bridge differences you would have challenged more people to challenge their own thinking and what you would be pushing for now is to ensure that your death the deaths of all the soldiers and so many innocent civilians are not leav not in vain your starting point would be returning all of the hostages for 330 days mama and I sought the proverbial stone that we could turn over to save you maybe just maybe your death is the stone the fuel that will bring home the remaining 101 hostages but you're a dreamer an expansive thinker so you would keep on pushing for a rethinking of this region you would say you have said that we must take a chance on a path with potential to end the ongoing cycles of violence you and ignore people's public posturing and what people say at press press conferences and you would push every decision maker to truly look themselves in the mirror and to ask themselves selflessly every single day will the decisions I make today lead to a better future for all of us and you would tell any decision maker who cannot answer that question with an emphatic yes to step aside a cousin reminded me that one of the several explanations for the name Poland is rooted in the words po a worker for salvation not in the pring sense but in the general sense this was my uncle Milton's explanation for why my grandfather was a pharmacist my uncle was a rabbi and my father was a doctor all healing professions Hersh you were true poia shot before October 7th you always sought ways to make the world around you better since October 7th you have become a global symbol for bringing Improvement to our to our [Music] world this morning I saw a clip of a vigil that took place in New York last night how appropriate that the crowd was singing You and I will will change the world the 23 years of life that we had with you were a blessing we now will work to make your legacy a similar blessing you are a really great guy I love you