Ettie Berkovitch Goldstein has become a powerhouse knitting hats and neck warmers for soldiers in Israel. And she is not alone.
More than 200 volunteers from all over the United States are supporting her efforts to do something for the Jewish state during a time of war. Goldstein has been using social media to reach out to these volunteers and mobilize them.
Their work has turned her project, Operation Kovah, into a swift, human-powered, loved-filled operation to provide a degree of comfort and warmth for Israeli soldiers on the frontlines. Winter in Israel starts in late October, or early November, and lasts through March, and the nights get cold. The hats and neck warmers made through the project are distributed through some of Goldstein’s friends.
Kovah means “hat” in Hebrew, Goldstein said.
She was inspired to knit hats for soldiers by the women who would do the same when she was a child.
Goldstein, 59, was born in the city of Givatayim, east of Tel Aviv, the child of Holocaust survivors. She lives in Mt. Washington with her husband.
Goldstein’s mother and aunt were the only survivors of the Holocaust on her mother’s side. Four of her mother’s siblings and their parents all perished. Goldstein’s mother was 16 years old, and her surviving sister was 17.
The two women died decades later.
Goldstein said that being a child of Holocaust survivors gives her a certain sensitivity, strength and perspective.
“When Oct. 7 happened, I was at my daughter’s house in Silver Spring, with my grandkids,” she said. “I could not believe what had just happened.”
Goldstein was 9 years old when the Yom Kippur War broke out. “Nobody was ready for the Yom Kippur War, just as nobody was ready for Oct. 7,” Goldstein said. She recalled her mother’s voice calling her from the third floor as she played outside when the siren announcing the start of the war rang out.
And she remembers the Israeli women who started knitting hats for the soldiers fighting in the Yom Kippur War.
Goldstein’s resolve to help the country that welcomed her mother after the devastation of the Holocaust has resulted in an operation that has already provided more than 1,000 hats and neck warmers and more than 1,500 balaclavas to IDF soldiers.
Goldstein also has a support system in Israel — which includes her brother — who meets volunteers bringing duffel bags with hundreds of hats at the airport. Goldstein has had, and continues to look, for volunteers traveling to Israel who are willing to take a duffel bag or two filled with hats. She also counts on the support of volunteers who help distribute the hats and balaclavas once these arrive in Israel.
Purchasing hats through Amazon is also an option for volunteers eager to help, Goldstein added.
“It fills me — now that the story is going around, it makes me happy to know that I am helping a country I love so much,” Goldstein said. She and the volunteers also welcome the thank-you letters they receive from IDF soldiers, such as a letter from a soldier to a young student at Krieger Schechter Day School thanking the little girl.
The hats are sent with Hershey’s kisses and a letter from a student. These items come in a bag with Operation Kovah’s logo. (The Operation Kovah logo, designed by Goldstein, is two crochet hooks in a X, inspired by the logo for the Israel-Hamas war.)
Goldstein’s impact has been wide. She has received hats from a JCC in New Jersey, local synagogues, a Christian Zionist group and individuals from all over the country.
The mother of three adult children, two grandchildren and a third grandchild due in June, Goldstein’s efforts take her back to her childhood, and to the women who surrounded her — many of them Holocaust survivors — knitting hats for the IDF.
“I keep thinking two things about my mother,” Goldstein said. “One, that my grandparents perished in the gas chambers or possibly were shot in the woods,” and two, she added, “if my mother was still alive and she saw this rise of antisemitism, it would take her back 75 years to the horrible things that she went through. Israel, for my mother, was a miracle.”
Goldstein continued, “But I do wish she could see what I’m doing because she taught me how to knit.”
