<p>A kosher community fridge honoring Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old with Chicago ties who was taken hostage and later killed by Hamas, was dedicated Wednesday in Skokie.</p><p>Hersh’s Fridge, which organizers describe as the country’s first kosher community fridge, is open 24 hours a day and offers prepared meals, produce, groceries and dry goods to anyone who needs them.</p><p>The project grew from the work of Solu, an Orthodox Jewish bridge-building initiative, executive director Rabbi Hody Nemes said.</p><p>Nemes said the community drew inspiration from community fridges in Chicago and Evanston.</p><p>Solu volunteers had also stocked non-kosher fridges and had wondered about creating a kosher fridge serving the Jewish community and its neighbors, he said.</p><p>For several years, the idea seemed like a “pipe dream,” Nemes said.</p><p>Goldberg-Polin was taken hostage in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack in Israel. A group met Sept. 1, 2024 — the day after learning Goldberg-Polin’s body had been found in a tunnel in Gaza — to consider whether the kosher fridge idea was feasible.</p><p>When the group watched a livestream of Goldberg-Polin’s <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/israel-hamas-war/2024/09/22/american-hostage-hersh-goldberg-polin-israel-hamas-gaza-oct7-memorial-skokie" target="_blank" >funeral</a>, they heard his parents say, “May his memory be a revolution,” Nemes said.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>A new kosher fridge in Skokie — honoring the life of Hersh Goldberg-Polin — that provides free food items for the community is located at 8825 East Prairie Rd.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times</p></div></div>

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</div><p>The group wanted to honor that as a call for kindness and bringing people together, he said.</p><p>“We want to be part of that revolution,” Nemes said.</p><p>Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Chicago natives Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, gave the group permission to use their son’s name and have become increasingly involved with the project since, said Leah Rubin, Solu’s vice president and co-chair of Hersh’s Fridge.</p><p>The fridge launched in pilot form last October and will remain a permanent resource in Skokie, she said.</p><p>Rubin said the project was created to both address food insecurity and food waste.</p><p>Rising food costs, economic insecurity and cuts to benefits have contributed to growing need in the area, she said.</p><p>Access to the fridge is intentionally anonymous, allowing anyone from any background to use it, Rubin said.</p><p>Organizers estimate it has been accessed about 50 times a day so far, though that number is difficult to track when including anonymous parties who bring in donations while collecting other food items, Nemes said.</p><p>One refrigerator holds certified kosher meals from at least six area restaurants and caterers. A second holds packaged and labeled food prepared in kosher homes, Rubin said.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Hersh’s Fridge, which organizers describe as the country’s first kosher community fridge, is open 24 hours a day and offers prepared meals, produce, groceries and dry goods to anyone who needs them.<br></p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times</p></div></div>

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</div><p>The pavilion includes a pantry for shelf-stable kosher goods, and kosher fresh produce and sealed groceries in refrigerators.</p><p>Volunteer artists also created a portrait of Goldberg-Polin and a fruit-patterned mural inspired by a shirt he wore in a widely circulated photo of him in front of a waterfall, Nemes said.</p><p>A sign features a line from the Passover Haggadah: “All who are hungry, let them come and eat,” he added.</p><p>Organizers estimate that nearly 1,000 volunteers have participated in the project , including about 100 to 150 “core” volunteers. They hope to expand Hersh’s Fridge to other communities across the country, Nemes said.</p>

Hersh’s Fridge dedicated in Skokie in memory of Hersh Goldberg-Polin 2026

IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-09-03 02:49:23

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