First Kosher Community Fridge In The U.S. Dedicated To Slain Hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin

SKOKIE, ILLINOIS (VINnews) — Several hundred people gathered Wednesday outside Chicago for the dedication of what organizers say is the first kosher community fridge in the United States, named in memory of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the American-Israeli hostage murdered by Hamas after 328 days in captivity.

Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, both Chicagoland natives, attended the ceremony in Skokie and said the project reflects their late son’s values by offering food to people in need with dignity and without publicity.

“Hersh was an idealist who sought to make the world a better place in small ways, and he would do it without speaking about making the world better,” Jon Goldberg-Polin said.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was abducted from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. He and five other hostages who had survived nearly 11 months in Gaza were executed by their captors on Aug. 31, 2024, as IDF troops approached, Israeli officials said.

The fridge project was organized by Solu, an Orthodox Jewish volunteer group that works to build bridges between observant Jews and neighboring communities. Rabbi Hody Nemes, Solu’s executive director and one of the project’s main organizers, said the first planning meeting was scheduled for Sept. 1, 2024 — the day after Goldberg-Polin’s murder was announced.

“I considered canceling the meeting, but the team said, ‘No. We must meet.’ So we gathered, we cried, and we agreed to research the idea of a kosher fridge,” Nemes said.

A week later, organizers watched Goldberg-Polin’s funeral online. Nemes said they were struck by descriptions of Hersh as someone who looked out for the overlooked and treated others with dignity.

“We heard Jon say, ‘May his memory be a revolution,’ and those three words pierced us. We wanted to be part of your revolution,” Nemes said.

Hersh’s Fridge, located in a parking lot across from Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob Synagogue at 8825 East Prairie Road, began operating in October 2025. Organizers say it is open 24 hours a day and is used about 50 times daily.

The site includes refrigerated units and a pantry stocked with sealed meals from kosher restaurants and caterers, home-cooked kosher dishes, fresh produce and sealed kosher groceries. Volunteers monitor the food to maintain kosher standards. The project is intended especially for observant Jews facing food insecurity, but it is open to people of all backgrounds.

Organizers say the outdoor, anonymous format is meant to reduce the stigma that can keep families from using traditional pantries.

A client’s testimony, read at the ceremony, said the fridge had helped with Shabbos meals, children’s snacks and weekly dinners.

“It has given me and my family a sense of calm to know there’s an option that we can go to anonymously without worrying about possibly seeing people we know,” the client said.

A portrait of Goldberg-Polin was unveiled at the fridge compound. Rachel Goldberg-Polin read from an essay her son wrote in high school:

“I feel like seeing the world, without phones, without brands, without rich, without poor. I want a quiet, peaceful community, and always to wander. I feel like breaking free and being myself, and I will be free. I want to see what’s out there when the road gets small and fades.”

Solu leaders said the fridge is stocked by volunteers, including students from Ida Crown Jewish Academy who formed a club to help label homemade items and keep the site supplied. Fridge co-chairs include Leah Rubin and Amanda Goldstein.