Meet Rachel.
“My name is Rachel Herman. I am Israeli. I was named after my great-grandmother, Rachel Herman. I have her first name and last name. She was slaughtered in Auschwitz.”
An outspoken Israeli who made her dream of living in New York City come true. An unapologetic activist for the causes she stands for. A woman who has found the power in using her voice for truth and knows that there is no going back; not now, not ever.
Rachel is the descendant of Holocaust survivors. Her grandfather, Moshe, was the only member of his family to survive. Rachel was named for his mother, Rachel, who perished at Auschwitz. After the war, Moshe immigrated to Israel where he rebuilt his life and his family.
Growing up, Rachel was not interested in politics. Her mother was right wing, her father aligned with the left. She was educated on current issues but felt that politics were corrupt and a waste of time. A future in politics was never part of her plan.
She arrived in New York in 2012, at the age of 27, determined to make her American dream come true. She worked in security and in 2016 was the security director for Israel’s nation airline, El Al. Work routinely took her to Boston, and a regular morning became a day that changed her life forever. That day was the day that Republican primaries were being aired on TV at the hotel while she enjoyed her breakfast.
“I noticed that Trump was standing in as one of the candidates. I thought that was a joke, and thought ‘what’s happening?’ But then he took the microphone and started speaking about what he promised to accomplish if he would be elected. I really liked what he had to say – he spoke of eliminating ISIS, about securing the US border, and about backing up Israel again – and I wanted to hear more of what he had to say. I liked that he wasn’t a politician.” Politics were never of interest to Rachel before, but something in her shifted that day.
As someone with a security background, Rachel resonated with Trump’s commitment to security, to ridding the world of some of the world’s most savage terrorists. It was then that she started supporting Trump as the Republican candidate. “I started listening to his rallies. I liked the fact that he’s like me – he says what he thinks, there’s no political correctness.”
“I started seeing how the media would take what he said out of context, and people would hate him as a result. I wanted to stand up for him. I wanted people to know that there’s a lesbian immigrant who supports him – which is rare.”
Rachel began using her Instagram page – her personal and photography page – to voice her support for Donald Trump, and she received a lot of backlash for it. She decided to create an anonymous account to still be able to voice her opinions, but not show her face. She named it MAGAY, a play on MAGA and Gay. This account was opened in 2018, on a day of little significance that year.
“The more I did it, the more I became confident in speaking up. I joined the Log Cabin Republicans (the nation’s largest gay Republican organization) of New York in 2021 as a board member, and I gained the confidence to start showing my face on my page. I started recording myself in videos, and my following grew. I continued being outspoken on different issues, and supported Israel whenever there was a conflict. In 2021 I was creating many posts in support of Israel.”
In 2022, Rachel become active in Gays Against Groomers, a coalition of gays, lesbians and trans people who stand against medical intervention in children struggling with gender identity and expression, something that ultimately grew her platform. As a tomboy herself, a masculine woman, she recognized potential dangers in the zeitgeist. “I want to save the tomboys. I’m a tomboy myself. I grew up in a world that wanted to change me, for me to become more feminine, and I fought for me and for my real identity as a masculine woman. Today these poor young girls, these tomboys are being told they should transition – that they need to transition, or they will kill themselves, which is a lie. I support trans adults to do whatever they want, but I don’t think children should transition.”
This stance caused her to go viral with several posts surpassing one million views. She became the New York State Chapter leader in June 2023, ran a successful fundraiser in September 2023, and had big future plans. Ultimately, Rachel would have to step back from this calling, because of what came next.
October 7, 2023.
“I’m Israeli, my whole family is in Israel. My parents live in Ashkelon. My sister and her four children live nearby, in Nitzan. My whole family was under constant rocket attacks on that horrific morning. I woke up at 6:00 AM to messages from my brother encouraging me to not open social media – that a war had begun, and that the internet was full of horrific images - just to call them immediately.” When she did, she began crying hysterically. No one could make sense of what was unfolding in southern Israel on that dark day.
Rachel took to her page immediately and shared what was happening in Israel, the same way that she would report on any breaking news.
“Since that moment, I continuously shared content that was coming out of Israel; all of the horrific videos, videos of Noa Argamani being taken from the Nova Music Festival, videos of other people running, live streams of the families in the kibbutzim, etc.”
Rachel’s second cousin, Shira Shochat, aged 19, was brutally murdered in the control room at the Nahal Oz military base. “She was locked in the war room and burned alive by Hamas.” It took a week for her body to be identified.
Each and every day that has passed since October 7th has been dedicated to using her platform to speak for Israel and to advocate for the release of the hostages.
Rachel’s family lives in Ashkelon, their apartment facing south towards Gaza. They could see the hundreds of rockets being launched towards Israeli civilians from their balcony. They spent October 7th in their safe room for hours on end, while apartments in the neighbourhood were hit by rockets or falling shrapnel. Rachel’s father drove to be with her sister despite orders to stay home, as her husband was immediately called up to the army, and they had four young children at home. Rachel spent hours on FaceTime calls with her family, enduring the nightmare alongside them, helplessly, from her NYC apartment.
When the siren sounds in Ashkelon, you have 30 seconds to seek shelter. Rachel’s family was constantly running in and out of their shelters. They spent weeks tied to their shelters; the children unable to leave the house for weeks on end, family pets unable to go for walks. Living a “regular” life under constant terror is impossible. The local hospital, Barzilai Medical Center, in Ashkelon was directly targeted and hit by rockets several times, including the maternity ward.
Rachel had a long-standing trip booked to come to Israel before the war broke out. Unsure if she should go or not, she waited for the emotions to subside, but upon her flight being canceled by Delta she decided she had to go. “I needed to be with my family.” She booked a ticket with El Al, Israel’s national airline, the only secure airline that continued to connect Israel with the world throughout the most difficult days of the war.
“I went on October 19th for three weeks and experienced it for myself.”
“I’ve been recording since day 95, after I saw the video of Rachel Goldberg-Polin saying how she wants people to start wearing a piece of tape with the number of days on it. I responded to one of her videos, expressing my support to her, saying that she isn’t alone, and that I will stand with her.”
Rachel wakes up at 6AM daily to create and edit content to be able to post it before she begins her work day at 9. “I advocate for the hostages. I remind people that there are hostages and how many there are. I demand their release. I also talk about current events or updates from Israel news and share my opinions about them.”
As someone who has advocated against the status quo and regularly posted more “controversial” topics, Rachel was no stranger to having content censored and removed from social media, and having actions taken against her account. However, she never had her account suspended or removed from social media platforms until she began advocating for Israel and the hostages. “[Meta] suspended me three times; once in November, and twice in December 2023.”
When her account was suspended, Rachel was curious to know when exactly she started her page. “I scrolled all the way down and found my original first post that started the page… on October 7, 2018.”
“At that moment I realized that everything that I’ve done with this page until this point brought me to this moment. To a platform with over 70,000 followers, the majority of whom are Christian mothers. About 70% of my followers are Christian. If it wasn’t for me they probably would not know anything or at least not to the level they do now about what is happening in Israel. Many thank me for educating them and uplifting them. Many tell me that they are now walking around wearing shirts in support of Israel, or wearing the dog tag, or yellow ribbon, and are armed with the knowledge to educate others on what is happening in Israel.”
“I’m so grateful. I’m grateful for this platform, that I started this platform. That I’m able to use my voice and am making a difference in people’s lives.”
Rachel’s is a rare voice that can reach outside of the echo chamber to help people decipher between truth and propaganda when it comes to the lies being spread about Israel on social media.
“As long as I’m able to speak to just one person I will keep speaking up. I will never stop because that one person can speak to one more and that person can speak to two more, and so on. The power of speaking up is endless, no matter how big or small your audience is.”
“I must fight for Israel. I must fight for the Jewish people in America, and for America. That’s what I use my voice for.”
The antisemitism that has erupted across North America is like watching Nazi Germany come to life. As much as it pains Rachel to witness, she advocates for freedom of speech, which applies to all Americans. It doesn’t mean that she sits idly by as hatred spreads. She is out on the streets protesting, and counterprotesting when necessary. “I saw their faces and I saw their hate, and that they were celebrating [the events of October 7]. I felt threatened. I felt scared that this is happening in America.”
Rachel describes herself as a social media and political activist because she takes her activism off-screen and into the real world. She has protested outside of the UN, participated in counter-protests when Hamas supporters come out in droves, and is a regular at the ‘March For Their Lives,’ a weekly march in Central Park to raise awareness for the hostages and to demand their return. “Whenever I’m in the city, I go and I support. I show up for the hostages. I show up for Israel. Whenever. Whatever.” A few hundred people show up weekly, but Rachel insists that far more people need to be showing up in person. “There should be thousands, especially since New York is the home of the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.”
A product of Israeli resilience, watching American Jewry react to the current climate can be disheartening at times. “Jewish people in Israel are very resilient. The Jewish people in America are not. They don’t have that strength that comes with living in Israel, where your whole life is about wars and terrorist attacks and fallen soldiers – and we are determined to keep living regardless of this. American Jews are too comfortable, many don’t understand how this is a matter of life and death for them right now.”
On Passover we sing “Vehi Sheamda,” a song that reminds us that in every generation an enemy arises that tries to destroy us, and then G-d saves us from their hands. The previous generation experienced the Holocaust. The threat of weaponizing Zionism and villainizing Jews and Israel is the trial of annihilation of our generation.
“This is why me must all be active, outspoken, and do whatever we can to stand up for Israel. We must ensure that Israel continues to exist because if it doesn’t, the existence of the Jewish people is threatened.”
Political involvement is more important now than ever. As a proud Republican and Trump supporter, Rachel encourages everyone to consider Trump’s record for Israel during his term as president. “There’s no other president in the history of the United States that has done as much for Israel. In his first official trip was to Israel, and then to Saudi Arabia. He acknowledged Jerusalem as the capital and moved the embassy. He defunded UNRWA, he sanctioned Iran. The Abraham Accords, the historic peace agreements, were signed with him in office.” At a time where Jewish lives are on the line, Rachel uses her platform to encourage followers to consider what she considers to be the only clear choice for Jewish Americans as an election looms. She worries that if we see the Democratic party win, that there will be a mass exodus of Jewish Americans to Israel.
“I want them to vote for the side that stands with Israel and will continue to do so. Do your research, don’t take the clickbait as truth or fact.”
Most importantly, Rachel takes her platform seriously, especially as a way to uplift and inspire people. “I want people to not lose hope, and to stay strong, and be united. When we are united we are unbreakable. We are unstoppable.” Her wish is for the Israeli people to be united and to understand that as Jews in the world we have no other choice. Israel must continue this war to return every hostage and to eradicate the evil ideology that is Hamas. Her wish is that more Jewish Americans have the courage to begin speaking up, realizing that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by doing so. She quoted Dr. Jordan Peterson, “The truth will reveal the world the way it is intended to be revealed.” Being silent is not being truthful; without action, speaking means nothing.
“What’s at stake is more important.”
Israelis have no choice but to be resilient. American Jews can learn this from their Israeli brothers and sisters. “We have Jewish pride. Keep reassuring yourself that you are on the right side of history. The Jewish people have survived for thousands of years, despite every attempt of annihilation. Listen to the words of Vehi Sheamda and be empowered by it. And be proud of yourself.”
Rachel firmly believes that your thoughts create your reality. “Keep telling yourself that you are unstoppable, and you will be. The Jewish people are going to forever be victorious. Am Yisrael Chai. Forever.”
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