At a memorial service for the hostages killed by Hamas days before, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff Tuesday spoke more personally with the American Jewish community than he perhaps ever had.
“ This is hard. This is raw. I’m gutted, ” he said, pausing at one point to maintain his composure. “ I stand before you, yes, as the second gentleman of the United States and the first Jewish principal ever in the White House. But in this moment, I’m here as a fellow congregant, a fellow mourner, and as a Jew who feels connected to all of you.”
Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, addressed thousands at what was billed as the National Vigil for the Hostages at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C. It memorialized California-born Hersh Goldberg-Polin, perhaps the most well-known of the hostages thanks to his parents’ efforts to free him, and the five other hostages killed by Hamas last week. Emhoff spoke of his angst over their deaths and the continued captivity of more than 100 other hostages, and how he conveys these feelings to Harris, not only as the vice president “but as my wife.”