Mah Atah Yode'a Al Gaagua

מה אתה יודע על געגוע הוא אסופה של מונולוגים אישיים של נשות נופלים ממלחמות ישראל – נשים אמיצות שבחרו לספר לנו על אהבה. מאחורי גלימת הגבורה והיגון, מצטיירת אהבה ממשית: רגעים של קרבה, צחוק ותקווה – לצד עייפות, שבר וכאב. 

יותר משהוא ספר על שכול, הוא ספר על חיים. הדסה בן ארי מביאה ח"י סיפורים אמיתיים, שנרקמו מתוך שיחות עמוקות עם נשים זקופות. היא לא שאלה אותן "מה זאת אהבה" – אבל התשובה עולה מאליה מכל דף, ומזמינה גם אותנו להאמין באהבה, ללמוד אותה ולחיות אותה.

What is love?

Two beautiful, radiant people gaze into each other’s eyes with a romantic look, violins playing in the background, and a promise in the air that they’ll stay together forever… Is that love?

But maybe love is when Chaim brings Rivka clementines from the grocery store because he knows how much she loves them.

Or when Shmuelik says to Iris, “I just want you, for once, to accept me the way your mom accepts your dad.”

Or when Yonatan and Yaara make their usual evening salad together: lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and croutons.

Or when Ibrahim and Nadine go running together, and he holds her hand.
Or when Noga leaves the house without a head covering and shouts to Noam, “Bye, I’m heading down to Eilat!”

Or when Hadar sits in the staging area before entering Gaza and sketches doves and pomegranates for Edna’s wedding invitation.

Or when Yael sits on the swing, and suddenly a sharp pain cuts through her—and in that moment, without knowing why, she realizes he’s been killed.

Or when Zohara puts on the torn sweatshirt Yaniv wore on their first date and goes to identify him at Shura Camp.

Or when Iris stands over the grave of the love of her life and says, “Shmuelik, forgive me. I choose life.”

"Mah Atah Yode'a Al Gaagua" is a collection of personal monologues by women whose partners fell in Israel’s wars—brave women who chose to tell us about love. Behind the cloak of heroism and grief, a very real love emerges: moments of closeness, laughter, and hope—alongside exhaustion, heartbreak, and pain.

More than it is a book about loss, it is a book about life.

Hadassa Ben Ari brings eighteen true stories, woven from deep conversations with strong, dignified women. She didn’t ask them, “What is love?”—but the answer rises naturally from every page, inviting us too to believe in love, to learn and live it. 

Available in Hebrew only