Why This Chicago Man Is Raising Awareness about Gaza Hostages

“Marcy Goldberg kind of adopted me into the family when I was six years old,” Jeremiah Smith, a 27-year-old Chicago truck driver, explained in a recent Aish.com interview.

It’s a long way from the inner city of Chicago to Jerusalem, where much of Marcy Goldberg’s family lives, including her grandson Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Yet over the years, Hersh and Jeremiah forged a close bond. “We’re like brothers.” Hersh was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. He lost an arm trying to fight off hordes of terrorists and was kidnapped into Gaza, where he remains today. Half a world away, in Chicago, Jeremiah has devoted his life to raising awareness about the hostages and to getting Hersh home.

“She Basically Saved My Life”

Jeremiah’s description of his early childhood is harrowing. He grew up in the infamous Cabrini-Green housing project, which for years was synonymous with gangland violence. When Jeremiah was born Cabrini-Green was largely torn down; he and his family lived in one of the apartments that remained. “I was born in Cabrini-Green in a bathroom,” he describes. His mother had never graduated from high school and could give her children few opportunities. Jeremiah and his four siblings were surrounded by violence; he recalls seeing a corpse for the first time when he was six years old. “You have to grow up a little bit faster than what you want when you’re living in that situation,” Jeremy’s described. “I saw people getting in fights, people getting shot, people selling drugs.”

Marcy Goldberg lived just a couple of miles away but in a different world. A religiously observant Jew, she’d sent her daughter to Jewish day schools. Now she lives in a modest two-bedroom apartment in the Gold Coast, an upscale neighborhood near Lake Michigan. When Chicago’s Jewish Federation announced it was looking for Jewish volunteers to send to inner-city schools, Marcy volunteered in a local elementary school that served the Cabrini-Green neighborhood, tutoring first graders in reading.

Jeremiah when he was in high school, with Marcy Goldberg

“My teacher asked who wanted to go with her,” Jeremiah recalled. “I didn’t raise my hand because I didn’t care about, you know, going to class. But my teacher happened to pick me.”

Marcy and six-year-old Jeremiah forged an immediate bond. “She used to come to the school three times a week,” Jeremiah recalls. “I got very close to her. I was seeing her like a mother.” Before long, Marcy asked the Smith family if they would like to join her for Shabbat. Jeremiah eagerly agreed to visit his tutor for Shabbat dinner; he was often joined by his siblings and his best friend, LaDante Clayborn. A religiously observant Jew, Marcy doesn’t drive on Shabbat; she used to drive over before Shabbat to pick up the children and bring them back to her condo to dine and visit with her friends and family, then drive them home again after Shabbat ended on Saturday evening. Jeremiah had never tried dishes like challah and matzah ball soup, and he loved the new Jewish foods Marcy introduced him to.

Having Marcy in his life showed Jeremiah that there was a different way to live from the intensely poor environment at home. “I saw people selling drugs. I saw people getting killed. But Marcy came and she showed me other things. She basically saved my life,” Jeremiah told the magazine Jewish Chicago.

The Golderg-Polin family during happier times

As Jeremiah grew older, he became another member of the Goldberg family. Marcy began including him on family vacations. “She took me on my first trip out of town,” Jeremiah recalls. He went fishing in Michigan, skiing in Colorado, and took four visits with the Goldberg family to Israel. “I was always with Marcy, everywhere she go,” Jeremiah’s described. “I went out of town, I was with Marcy. Every family event, Passover, Hanukkah, I was with Marcy.”

Brother, Cousin, Uncle

Marcy’s Israeli family would visit almost every year. “I got to see Hersh every year and be with him. Hersh was like my little brother; he wanted to do everything I did most of the time,” Jeremiah recalls with a laugh. Four years younger than Jeremiah, Hersh enjoyed spending time with the older child. Despite their different childhoods, they found many ways to bond.

“He couldn’t play basketball for nothing,” Jeremiah’s recalled, “but that’s what I used to play. I’d have him on the basketball court the whole day. He’s like, ‘Just for you, I’m gonna keep running.’”

Jeremiah flew to Israel to attend Hersh’s bar mitzvah. Hersh wasn’t sure how to describe their close, family-like relationship with Jeremiah, so he called him “brother cousin uncle.” “So that’s what everybody called me,” Jeremiah said.

Becoming a Grandson

When Jeremiah was entering seventh grade, his mother moved to a new, chaotic neighborhood. The local school was filled with crime. “She didn’t want us to get into a bad set,” Jeremiah remembers Marcy saying. Marcy and Jeremiah’s mother worked out a plan. Jeremiah, his older brother Darius, and his younger sister Angel moved into Marcy’s small two-bedroom condo. They attended a good public school nearby where Jeremiah became one of the state’s highest ranked high school basketball stars.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin

“Angel had the spare room,” Jeremiah recalls. “Me and Darius shared the couch: it was a pull-out couch in the living room and we slept on that.” Jeremiah explains that his mother was glad to have the support at the time.

“It was a different experience when I used to go to Marcy’s house,” Jeremiah explains. “I felt like I was going into a whole different world. She taught me how to swim, taught me how to read. She helped me with math.” He called her Bubbe, Yiddish for Grandmother.

Some of Jeremiah’s most treasured memories are of spending time with Hersh Goldberg-Polin and his family in Israel. There, the two boys joked that Hersh was the older brother for once, as he spoke Hebrew and Jeremiah did not. “He taught me how to barter,” Jeremiah recalls with a laugh. He and Hersh went to Tel Aviv. Visiting a market, Jeremiah decided to buy himself a Star of David necklace. Hersh kept telling him to bargain and to not appear too eager. “After a while, the price came down and he said, ‘Yeah, take that price.’”

Jeremiah still wears that Star of David necklace. “In Israel, I played basketball with Israeli players. I turned 18 in Israel.” His time in Israel profoundly shaped Jeremiah’s world view.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s Heroism

Marcy Goldberg’s daughter Rachel, her husband Jon Polin, and their children moved to Israel in 2008. On October 7, 2024, Hersh - who turned 23 in captivity - was at the Nova music festival when it was overrun by Hamas terrorists. Over 350 young Israelis were raped, tortured, and massacred at the festival.

During the mayhem, Hersh and a large group of youths sought shelter in a roadside bomb shelter. As Hamas terrorists lobbed grenades inside the shelter, Hersh and his good friend Aner Shapiro tried to deflect the grenades and throw them out. Hersh’s left arm was blown off. A video recorded by a terrorist shows a badly wounded Hersh and three other Israelis being loaded onto a truck and driven into Gaza.

His family didn’t know if Hersh had survived until April 24, 2024, when Hamas released a propaganda video of Hersh. He appeared gaunt, with a shaved head, haunted eyes, and a missing hand, but he was alive. “I saw the video, and I cried because it was like, ‘I’m amazed that he’s still alive,” Jeremiah told the Chicago Tribune. “I had given up hope.”

Rushing Out to Help

When Jeremiah woke up on October 7 to news that a massive terror attack was underway in Israel, he recalls. “I just dropped when I heard about that. My heart just went into my stomach. The first thing I thought about was Marcy, whether she knew or not.” Jeremiah quickly dressed and drove to Marcy’s house. He stayed with her all day as the bad news came in.

Hersh had sent a final text message to his parents moments before his abduction; his family realized that he’d been taken hostage. “She was pretty strong,” Jeremiah recalls of Marcy’s reaction. “She was pretty sure - she said he’s coming back.”

The Goldberg-Polin family has been outspoken in their insistence that the global community not forget the over 116 hostages who are still being held inside Gaza. On June 24, 2024, Rachel Goldberg-Polin told the international community “I’ve lived in this parallel universe of anguish for 262 days.” It’s imperative that the world not forget the hostages being held in Gaza.

Chicago’s Hostage Trucks

Last Winter, Chicago residents and visitors began noticing a truck traveling throughout the city, all day, every day, flashing the pictures of each hostage being held by Hamas. This “hostage truck” is the brainchild of Chicago philanthropist Jeff Aeder. “Everybody’s trying to figure out what to do: how to do something at a time when you feel helpless,” Jeff explained in a recent Aish.com interview. This was one way he realized he could help.

Jeremiah in the truck (credit: Vincent Alban/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

Jeff is friends with Marcy Goldberg and Jeremiah. He first met Jeremiah years ago when Marcy started inviting him for Shabbat meals. As Jeremiah grew up, the two grew very close. “He’s like a father to me,” Jeremiah explains of Jeff.

“You have all this antisemitism and radicalism and you’ve got to fight back,” Jeff Aeder explains. “The idea I came up with was to buy a truck to go around six days a week, 12 hours a day, and keep the hostages and the plight of the hostages in the minds of people and to fight antisemitism.” Two local artists asked artists worldwide to draw pictures of the hostages: these poignant portraits play over and over on the truck in an approximately 15-minute loop. Interspersed with the pictures are messages informing people that Hamas is holding hostages and that it’s imperative we do all we can to free them.

It was natural to call Jeremiah for help with this project. Jeremiah was operating his own small trucking business. When Jeff asked him if he’d put that on hold to drive the hostage truck, Jeremiah didn’t hesitate and said yes. He now spends 12 hours a day, six days a week driving the truck around the city and beyond. Jeremiah mostly drives past busy areas such as parks, train stations, and shopping areas. Whenever he drives the truck, Jeremiah wears his Star of David necklace and a pin with a picture of Hersh on it.

About a month ago, Jeff Aeder bought a second hostage truck. The driver of that truck is LaDante Clayborn, Jeremiah’s friend who used to join him for Shabbat dinners at Marcy Goldberg’s home.

Jeff Aeder

For the most part, reaction to the trucks has been positive. People often want to take selfies with Jeremiah or next to the truck. “We’ve had a few (negative) incidents, but nothing serious,” Jeff explains. Whenever someone yells at Jeremiah or opposes him, he has a simple question that disarms most critics: don’t you want to see the hostages freed? Recently, one member of the public started yelling at Jeremiah saying that Hamas doesn’t hurt women and children, Jeff says; “Jeremiah told him to go away.”

Looking to the Future

Jeremiah is engaged to be married in August 2024. He is looking forward to Marcy Goldberg being at his wedding, and Jeremiah strenuously hopes that Hersh will be there too.

Asked if he has any message for Hersh and the other hostages, Jeremiah thinks for a moment then shares his thoughts in a voice heavy with emotion. “I’d want to say we are here, praying for you guys. We are here trying to make sure that they don’t forget about you guys. Your families are waiting on you.”

To Hersh alone, Jeremiah has an additional message: “I love him. I’m here, every day, supporting you. Hopefully the message is getting stronger” with each day that Jeremiah drives his truck, letting the world know about Hersh and the other hostages. “We love him.”

 

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