Grassroots effort brings parents of slain American-Israeli hostage to Sarasota

On Oct. 7, 2023, 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin attended the Nova Music Festival in Israel, an event advertised to celebrate peace and freedom.

That morning, Hamas-led militants launched a coordinated attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 others hostage in Gaza, including Hersh. Hundreds of those killed were attending the music festival. 

Hersh and other hostages were eventually shot and killed 328 days later, after being starved and isolated. 

Their campaign to secure their only son’s release made Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin prominent faces of the hostage crisis. Goldberg-Polin spoke at the United Nations, met with Pope Francis and former U.S. President Joe Biden, and published her book, “When We See You Again,” in April.

Now, Goldberg-Polin and her husband are coming to Sarasota for a Nov. 17 speaking event organized by six local volunteers. The event is free and has generated such immense interest that organizers had to move it to a bigger venue after all 800 seats at the original location were claimed in just four hours.

“I thought it was going to sell out, but not in four hours,” said Gisele Pintchuck, co-founder of TheSixSRQ, a local Jewish group of six volunteers that puts on annual speaker events to uplift the Jewish community.

More than 1,300 people registered after signups opened in September, prompting organizers to move the event to the 1,700-seat Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. 

Additional registrations will open on Oct. 12. Those who already secured a ticket do not need a new one; existing tickets will be transferred over to the new venue.

Pulling off an event of that scale — and keeping it free — has required an extensive fundraising effort, partnerships with local organizations and the determination of six volunteers who have no paid staff. 

“It’s different when you’re putting something together for a company and have all that structure behind you, and if something goes wrong you have something to fall back on,” Pintchuck said. “We are just six individuals putting this together based on pure determination of the commitment to tell a story.”

The event wouldn’t have been possible without the support of community organizations like the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, multiple local Chabad groups and American Jewish Committee West Coast Florida, Pintchuck said. They helped TheSixSRQ handle financial challenges, venue changes, security planning and advertising.

TheSixSRQ may be small, but Marty Katz, who recently joined as the group’s marketing consultant, said bringing such prominent voices to Sarasota is a testament to the group’s large community footprint.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” Katz said. “Just so beautiful.”

A family’s story of loss and advocacy

Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin are both Chicago natives who moved to Israel in 2008 with their three children. Their son, Hersh, born in Berkeley, California, was 7 when the family settled in Jerusalem.

During the nearly 11 months Hersh was held hostage by militants, his parents became prominent advocates for the release of their son and the other hostages. Their campaign took them around the world, where they met political and religious leaders and appealed publicly for the hostages’ freedom.

Their campaign to bring their son home ended in tragedy when Hersh and five other hostages were killed in August 2024. 

In April, Goldberg-Polin published “When We See You Again,” a book chronicling her family’s grief, their efforts to bring Hersh home and their lives in the aftermath of his death.

The couple will be discussing the book and their experiences dealing with grief and trauma during that time at the Van Wezel.

Delivering their story to Sarasota is something Katz said is essential in bringing the community together.

“American Jews have felt really horrified and scared [since Oct. 7],” Katz said. “We grew up very much supporting Israel, and so it’s been like ‘Where do we go with these feelings?’ We don’t want this to be a whole political thing, so [it’s about] how we do that in a place where we can be together with the community.”

Requests to interview the family were unsuccessful.

TheSixSRQ’s efforts to bring those stories to Sarasota began with another family affected by the Oct. 7 attacks. 

More than two years ago, during the height of the Hamas hostage crisis, Pintchuck received a message from the cousin of Omer Shem Tov, who was also kidnapped during the Nova Music Festival and being held hostage. His cousin, Leat Corinne Unger, was a vocal advocate for the release of hostages, and asked Pintchuck to help arrange a speaking engagement in Sarasota to bring awareness to the movement.

Pintchuck got approval from leaders at her synagogue for Unger to speak and, with the help of five other people who eventually became TheSixSRQ, Unger spoke to over 300 people. At the end of her speech, Unger said the next time she returned to Sarasota, Shem Tov would be with her.

Sure enough, after being released in February 2025 following 505 days of captivity, Shem Tov came to Sarasota to speak with the help of TheSixSRQ and their partners.

The October 2025 event at The Ora sold out in less than a week with no marketing budget — advertised only through social media and word of mouth. The community response affirmed TheSixSRQ’s commitment to bringing speakers annually to uplift the Jewish community and pay tribute to the Oct. 7 victims.

The group started with six volunteers — Pintchuck, along with Richard Bergman, Ilene Fox, Jessi Sheslow, Anne Spindel and Howard Tevlowitz. But the six in TheSixSRQ isn’t a reference to its founding members. The name, adopted after Shem Tov’s event, represents the six points on the Star of David.

At the time, the group considered becoming an official, nonprofit organization but dismissed the idea as unsustainable since they all have other jobs or are in retirement. 

As long as they could continue to put on events like Unger’s and Shem Tov’s, Pintchuck said, there wasn’t pressure for them to put a label on the work they do.

“We said, ‘Why don’t we continue doing what we are doing?’” Pintchuck said. “We can put an event together, bring the community together, maybe sell out again, and go from there every year.”

Bringing global voices to Sarasota

When the opportunity came around to book Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin in Sarasota, TheSixSRQ raised the funds to do so in less than a week.

Partners like the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee chipped in to make the event a reality.

“Even when I was a professional fundraiser, gifts didn’t come this fast,” Pintchuck said. “I’ve been very fortunate that people respond to my passion. That to me is better than any job I have ever performed in my life.” 

Julie Green, who is co-chairing the event with her husband and was a former Jewish Federation board member, reached out to a friend who was Goldberg-Polin’s college roommate. The friend, Alison Lebovitz, who is also moderating the event, helped connect Green and TheSixSRQ to Goldberg-Polin’s agent. 

That kickstarted what would eventually lead to the family’s upcoming visit and shines light on how everything surrounding the event was made possible — through community connection.

“We have a small but mighty Jewish community here, and we also have a lot of support from Jewish neighbors here,” Green said. “So many of my friends who aren’t Jewish are coming to this event and have been talking about it. To have someone at that caliber in our community speak is a huge win for everybody.”

Securing the couple’s appearance was one challenge, but activating the community to show up is another. 

TheSixSRQ fueled a powerful community response with a grassroots approach. They advertised on social media, fundraised to cover high costs like speaker honorariums and security, and partnered with organizations, churches and synagogues that helped them spread the word.

Overall, 41 individuals and local businesses helped fund or advertise the event.

Pintchuck said a committee of 11 additional people were brought on to help TheSixSRQ coordinate the event in whatever capacity they could, and most are the same people who helped with Shem Tov’s speaking engagement.

Making the event free was a priority from the beginning, even as organizers faced the costs of speaker fees, venue rental and security.

Tickets to Goldberg-Polin and her husband speak elsewhere can range anywhere from $18 to thousands of dollars, Katz said. But TheSixSRQ wanted to ensure the cost wouldn’t prevent anyone in Sarasota from attending.

“We can’t ever have Oct. 7 happen again. Just like the Holocaust, we can’t have it happen again,” Katz said. “So people need to hear this story. There’s no [financial] barrier, it’s really about community and being together.” 

When it became clear the event would have to move to the Van Wezel, there were more factors to consider.

Pintchuck said they had to coordinate with the Sarasota Police Department and the Jewish Federation’s security director to ensure the event at the Van Wezel was safe. This year’s event will have double the security presence as last year’s with Shem Tov, as well as nearly double the attendees.

Pintchuck said the group also realized their budget was going to come up short.

TheSixSRQ got together and made a list of people to call. In just a few hours, they were able to raise the money needed.

“That’s the power of what this group has been able to do,” Pintchuck said. “It’s not mechanical. It’s not transactional. It’s personal, from the heart.”

For Pintchuck, putting this event on is a commitment — one rooted in the power of connection through storytelling.

“We are storytellers at this point, and it’s our commitment to make sure that we have what it takes to bring a community together and give the stage to a family to tell their story,” Pintchuck said. “I feel it’s our moral responsibility to keep telling these stories.”