Remarks by Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff at the National Vigil for the Hostages at Adas Israel Congregation

Adas Israel Congregation

As Prepared for Delivery

SECOND GENTLEMAN DOUGLAS EMHOFF: Thank you, Ted, and thank you to the many leaders here tonight from the AJC, ADL, JCRC, Federation, Washington Hebrew, and all the others who are here. 

It is thanks in part to the help of some of these organizations and others we have a National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism, an effort that is even more urgent today than when we announced it in May of 2023.

It is good to be together this evening. There is comfort in community.

But standing on this bimah, I can only be direct: This is hard. I feel raw. I’m gutted.

I know you are too.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Hersh and his parents, or about the five others and their families.

While I’m here as the Second Gentleman of the United States — and the first-ever Jewish White House principal — in this moment I’m here as a congregant, as a mourner, as a Jew who feels connected to all of you and grateful for the guidance of our wonderful rabbis, Aaron and Lauren.

They have become confidants and advisors. We’ve talked a lot about my own faith journey – something Kamala has encouraged in me.

Among the many things they helped me find was my voice.

At this moment, in light of the retraumatizing tragedy of this weekend, speaking here — even though this is hard — is a way I can use that voice.

The Vice President and I spoke this weekend to Hersh’s parents, Rachel and Jon.

It was not the first time we had spoken to them.

She had met with them several times, and I met with them just a couple weeks ago.

But this call, of course, was different.

I wish you all could have heard that phone call.

We expressed our condolences even though we know those words were not enough.

We talked about Hersh as a person, as their son, and just who he was – a joyful young man.

Their souls were torn apart, just like the garments we tear in mourning.

And yet, they were comforting us. They were asking about the latest in the negotiations.

They were asking how we can use this terrible moment to make progress. 

They told the Vice President that they don’t want Hersh’s death to be in vain.

They spoke with grace and compassion.

Part of Rachel and Jon’s world had just ended, and they somehow are still looking forward and looking out for others.

Rachel and Jon spoke about the need to bring all the hostages home and end the suffering in Gaza, something the Vice President is working on every single day.

As the President and Vice President have said, Hamas is responsible for killing Hersh, Ori, Carmel, Alexander, Almog, Eden, and too many others — and Hamas’s leaders will pay for these crimes.

You’ve all seen the pieces of tape that Rachel and Jon have been wearing over their hearts throughout this dark year.

At Hersh’s funeral yesterday, they still wore the tape marking the number of days the hostages have been in captivity: 332.

I saw that and thought: the count was never about their son alone.

Jon and Rachel’s hearts have room to hold everyone.

They are not giving up, and neither can we.

Not on this 333rd day.

Not ever.

Not until every hostage is reunited with their family. 

Why does Hersh’s loss feel so personal to us? Because Rachel and Jon made sure we knew him – just like they made sure on our phone call over the weekend.

In relating their love for their son over and over again — in reliving their pain in every place and platform they could — they planted their love for Hersh in all of us.

Something we saw in so many stories from that tragic day is the love of parents and the strength of families.

There were stories like the grandfather who drove hours to rescue his son and grandchildren who were hiding in a bomb shelter.

There were many more stories of sacrifice that ended differently.

That love, multiplied, is what makes our community who we are and what makes us strong.

How you feel right now is how I feel. And how we all feel is something the Kamala hears directly from me.

Every time something else terrible happens — in Israel, in Gaza, around the world, or here at home — it’s devastating all over again.

I share what I’m feeling with the Vice President – as my partner, as my wife. She knows. She gets it. She cares. She’s committed.

Hersh’s loss feels personal to the two of us. We’re both grieving.

Many of you saw Rachel and Jon speak to the country last month in their hometown of Chicago.

As they were preparing for that moment, they wanted to tell the story of Hersh’s heroism, the peace he believed in, the friends he defended during the attack, the seven grenades he threw out of the bomb shelter until the eighth one killed his best friend and took Hersh’s hand.

But here’s the thing: that’s not all they wanted to say on the national stage.

Even as they shared the story of their only son, they also felt an obligation to tell the stories and numbers of October 7th to those who might not have already known them: the innocent, peace-loving festival-goers who were killed, the horrific sexual violence the hostages — Americans, Israelis, and others; Jews and non-Jews — who are still being held.

Think about that: after nearly 11 months of being consumed by this hell, they were somehow clear-eyed enough to understand that there were others out there who don’t know this story or don’t believe it. 

In our community, what happened on October 7th is already seared into our souls.    

We think about the attacks and the victims and the hostages every day.

If I say just “Nova,” or “the tunnels” or “Hersh,” you all know immediately what I mean. No further descriptions necessary.

What Rachel and Jon know is that unless we tell the story again and again, we have no hope of “never again.”

As Aaron and Lauren can tell you better than I can, bearing witness is a fundamental chorus of Judaism, from Mount Sinai to the Passover Seder to the Holocaust to October 7th.

Hamas’s cold-blooded execution of six hostages, including an American, who could have been so close to coming home — reminds us that the trauma of October 7 has still not gone away.

The time to bring them home is now.

That is why President Biden and Vice President Harris are working around the clock to get a hostage-and-ceasefire deal done.

I don’t know that I would be as strong as Rachel and Jon if I were in their shoes.

But right now, we all need to find that strength.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this experience with you, to mourn with you, to pray alongside you for the return of all the hostages, and to honor those we’ve lost.

May their memories be a blessing. May their deaths never be in vain. And may we all know peace soon.

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