Hadassah Magazine took its popular One Book, One Hadassah series on the road for the first time in February, hosting an in-person event in Los Angeles.
Hadassah Magazine Executive Editor Lisa Hostein interviewed Israeli author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, who flew in from her home in Tel Aviv for the event. Gundar-Goshen discussed her novel, The Wolf Hunt, as well as the current crisis in Israel through her eyes, those of her family and the many patients she treats as a clinical psychologist specializing in trauma.
The event, which was simultaneously live streamed on Zoom, was a partnership between Hadassah National and Hadassah West, Southern California region.
Released shortly before October 7, The Wolf Hunt tells the story of Lilach, an Israeli woman who moves with her family from Israel to Silicon Valley in hopes of raising her child in a safer environment. Her vision is shattered when there’s a terror attack at her local synagogue, and she soon suspects that her teenage son has committed a terrible crime.
“She starts to ask herself, how much do I really know about my own child? How much do I really know what my child is capable of?” Gundar-Goshen said. “It is like a sort of mystery thriller, but I think that the mystery she’s trying to solve is her own child.”
Gundar-Goshen said the idea for the book came as she dropped her then-4-year-old daughter off for her first day of preschool. She found herself surveying the room suspiciously –– which of these little girls will say something nasty to my child? Which one of these boys is a bully? She went home and asked her husband what she thought was an interesting question: if you could choose, would you rather our daughter be bullied or be the bully?
“He looked at me, and he was so upset with this question, and he told me … what kind of mother are you?” Gundar-Goshen said. “He said, of course I prefer my child to be the bully rather than the victim.”
“Why is it so obvious?” she pushed him.
Recalling this conversation is one of the reasons it was difficult for her to open the book after October 7, she said.
Gundar-Goshen discussed the collective trauma Israelis are facing. One patient she treated refused to leave her house for over a month after the attack. She worked with her to get back to her normal routine and assuage her “survivor’s guilt.”
“In fact, this is a sort of activism,” she said. “The only people that don’t want you to enjoy life — it’s not the hostages — the only people that don’t want you to be able to go back to life, it’s Hamas. This is the impact of a terror attack. That the terror remains, and that even the people who are not directly affected, they condemn themselves to this mental cell.”
Still, she sees a lot of hope in the way Israelis have come together since the attack, and the words and actions of support from Jews around the world.
Ellen Hershkin, Hadassah past national president and chair of Hadassah Magazine, wrapped up the event, thanking Hostein and Gundar-Goshen and giving an update on Hadassah’s important post-October 7 work, including the launch of the #EndTheSilence campaign to speak out against rape and gender violence as weapons of war.
“As an American with Israeli friends both in Israel and the United States, I realized that I cannot presume to fully understand the differences in the way antisemitism manifests itself against Jews in general and Israelis in particular,” Hershkin said. “I know The Wolf Hunt will motivate us to engage in conversations, placing the topic front and center, reflecting on its content and impact, depending on one’s personal background. Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, is proud to bring such a program to fruition.”
The next in-person One Book, One Hadassah event will take place as part of this summer's National Assembly meetings in Las Vegas from July 28-30. The book and author will be announced soon.
Learn More
Well Read: Three Years of One Book, One Hadassah
Revisit past Hadassah Magazine programs
Upcoming Events
March 21: Magazine Discussion: Henrietta Szold’s Zionist Dream
April 18: One Book, One Hadassah: Live With Rosa Lowinger, ‘Dwell Time’