Jeremiah Smith’s Singular Campaign to Raise Awareness About the Hostages

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Jeremiah Smith is a young African-American in Chicago who is trying to raise awareness about the plight of the hostages held by Hamas and, especially, about one in particular — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, with whom Smith grew up. More about Smith and his campaign to help bring his childhood friend back from captivity in Gaza, can be found in article that appeared five weeks ago, and is worthy of renewed attention: “Chicago truck driver raises awareness for childhood friend held hostage in Gaza,” by Kate Armanini, Chicago Tribune, June 4, 2024:

The box truck was parked beside a quiet sidewalk in the West Loop. A few people stopped, glancing curiously at the image flashing on its rear door: a young man, his expression resolute but tinged with sadness. Below his figure was a message in bold letters: “Chicagoan kidnapped by Hamas.”

“He’s always up there,” said the truck’s driver, Jeremiah Smith, 27, as he stared at the image. “I always know that.”

Twelve hours a day, six days a week, Smith drives the truck through the Chicago area, raising awareness for the scores of Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas. But the man on the screen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, is more than a distant figure.

To Smith, he’s like a brother. When Smith was 6 years old, he met Hersh’s grandmother, a tutor at his elementary school, and was taken under her wing. It’s a story of familial love, a bridge of backgrounds — stronger than ever as a war wages on.

“I wouldn’t want nobody else to drive the truck,” Smith said, clutching the Star of David around his neck. “I just want that guy to come home.”

‘I was always with Marcy’

Smith grew up in Cabrini-Green Homes, a public housing complex on Chicago’s Near North Side. His mother didn’t have a high school diploma, and his childhood was marked with violence. He saw his first dead body when he was 6.

“You have to grow up a little bit faster than what you want when you’re living in that situation,” Smith said. “I saw people getting in fights, people getting shot, people selling drugs.”

Smith wonders if he would have been swept up in the tumult of his childhood. But then Marcy Goldberg, Hersh’s grandmother, stepped into his life. She volunteered as a tutor in Smith’s first grade classroom at George Manierre Elementary.

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

The connection was instant. Marcy was struck by the playful, free-spirited child, and began to tutor him beyond their two-hour sessions at school. He visited her Gold Coast home on the weekends, joining her family for Shabbat dinner. It was his first brush with Jewish culture.

He lived with Marcy from seventh grade through high school. He remained close with his own mother, who was grateful for Marcy’s support.

“I was always with Marcy, everywhere she go,” said Smith. “I went out of town, I was with Marcy. Every family event, Passover, Hanukkah, I was with Marcy.”

Smith met Hersh shortly after meeting his grandmother. At the mention of his friend, Smith rattles off a string of anecdotes from their childhood together. The pair’s upbringings were vastly different, but somewhere they found common ground.

“He couldn’t play basketball for nothing,” Smith added. “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.’”

He even traveled with the family to Hersh’s bar mitzvah in Israel. Hersh didn’t know how to introduce Smith to their Israeli relatives, so he called him his “brother cousin uncle.”

“So that’s what everybody called me,” Smith said. “Hersh is just a funny kid.”…

“Marcy saved my life,” he said.

Smith is getting married in August. He’s doing the mother-son dance with both his birth mother and Marcy.

He hopes Hersh will be there too.

Jeremiah Smith is doing what he can to help bring home from captivity his friend since childhood, Hersh Goldberg-Polin. He’s paying back Hersh’s family — especially Hersh’s grandmother Marcy — for having raised him as one of their own. It’s quite a story. I’ve just three words of encouragement for the remarkable Jeremiah Smith: Keep on truckin’.