The “little project that could” got together and did: A group of women has made 5,000-plus black caps; more than 1,000 yarmulkes; and blankets for moms, babies and kids.

Originally appeared in Jewish News Syndicate, October 14th, 2025.

It all started with a single hat and a protracted negotiation with the Israel Defense Forces 20 years ago, and it kept evolving and growing.

In 2006, one Gush Etzion mother asked another what project they might take on to help IDF soldiers. Efrat resident Channah Koppel, a knitter and organizer of a local group of handcrafters known as “Chicks with Sticks,” learned that the soldiers would appreciate “warm, snug hats.”

And so, she developed a pattern and knitted a hat to keep her IDF paratrooper son warm during the winter of 2008. However, her son’s commander informed her that knit hats were not in compliance with army regulations at the time. Eventually, the military reconsidered its policy and gave approval for soldiers to wear crocheted hats, and the moms mobilized quickly to get them on the heads of soldiers.

Koppel reports in her blog, “Once it had been approved by the commanders, we made a bunch of hats, sent out a couple of emails and—boom! The internet is an amazing place.” Koppel and her fellow knitters reached out to their networks all around the world, including England, South Africa, the United States and Canada, in search of women and men willing to make hats.

From the earliest days of the project, the knitters have followed a pattern and used black, machine-washable wool. Each hat bears a label in Hebrew that reads: ‘Knitted for you with warmth and love.”

Koppel reports that “since then, knitters from around the world have been mailing me hats—hundreds of them—for Israeli soldiers.” She remained involved with the project until 2022.

One knitter who heeded the call to join the team was Pamela Chasen. She learned about the project from Sabina Shmidman, the wife of the late Rabbi Joshua Shmidman, at her synagogue, Adath Israel Poale Zedek Anshei Ozeroff in Montreal. She just happened to be Koppel’s mother.

Chasen quickly became very actively involved in the project. She reports that they sent 75,000 hats to Israel between 2008 and the start of the COVID pandemic of 2020.

Knitted Items for IDF Soldiers
Soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces offer appreciation for their new hats. Credit: Courtesy.

‘Until the war, the project was a hobby’

Perhaps somewhat ironically, the project nearly drew to a close a year before the Iron Swords War in Gaza that started after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

In June 2022, Koppel wrote in her blog: “Thank you, everyone, for 15 amazing years! I estimate that over the years, we have together distributed about 75,000 hats to soldiers. Who could have imagined that all this would grow out of a little knitting group’s desire to do some good in the world? It’s been quite the ride, and the best part has been meeting all of you, but now it feels like time to move on. I have not found anyone to take over the project, so summer 2022 will be our last hurrah. I wish I had the words to thank each and every one of you for all your efforts, kindness and generosity. Please just know that I appreciate you immensely and wish you much joy. May you continue to find warm and loving ways to help others, for many, many years to come.”

Koppel could not have seen Oct. 7 coming. The invasion and ensuing war gave the organization new urgency, purpose and momentum.

“Until the war, the project was a hobby,” says Chasen, who recounts that “Channah got a hold of me the first week after Oct. 7. She informed me that 300,000 guys were being called up (for army service) and that winter was on the way. We reached out to individuals, synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, whoever. We told people who didn’t knit that there were knitting tutorials on YouTube.”

nitted Items for IDF Soldiers Pamela Chasen
Pamela Chasen. Credit: Courtesy.

Chasen is proud of her fellow Canadian group of knitters, who went by the informal name of “The Canadian Group, but have changed their name to Ameinu (“Our People”) since “our efforts are for our people.”

The initiative involves people with many talents. “We have knitters, stitchers, people who transport duffel bags. One woman told me she didn’t knit, and I asked her if she could write. I told her to start with 200 personal notes to accompany each hat.”

Shelley Mandelcorn, a project volunteer from Montreal, shares: “I started helping out quite by accident. My sister, who lives in Toronto, saw an ad looking for knitters to knit for the IDF. I reached out to that organization and was put on a chat. I noticed Pam’s name on that chat too and reached out to her. I was a little apprehensive about what was going on and wanted Pam’s input. To make a long story short, I got involved with Pam and her organization. I’ve knit for them, recruited more people in Montreal to knit and schlepped duffle bags to Israel for them. Everyone is really amazing.”

The project helps Mandelcorn keep Israel and IDF soldiers in her thoughts at all times. “This is such a small thing that we can do for the soldiers and their families to let them know we are constantly thinking of them. Every stitch we make keeps them in our minds. And believe me, there are lots of stitches in each hat and blanket that we make!”

She adds that “I am super grateful to have met all the amazing organizers and selfless knitters, who are literally giving hours of their time for this cause.”

Knitted Items for IDF Soldiers
Volunteers knit hats and other items for soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. Credit: Courtesy.

‘It has taken over my life’

Chasen notes that an average of one duffel bag has been shipped to Israel since the start of the war, even when air travel to Israel was significantly curtailed. They have sent:

  • 5,610 hats
  • 1,269 yarmulkes 
  • 275 neck warmers
  • 347 knitted blankets for the soldiers at the amputation clinics, as well as for at-risk and orphaned children
  • 143 baby blankets for moms giving birth whose husbands are serving or deceased
  • 132 baby quilts for babies in hospitals (project of the Ottawa group)
  • 63 adult quilts for soldiers in the hospital
  • 32 knitted dolls for children of evacuees

During a Zoom interview with JNS from her home in Toronto, Chasen proudly reports that “our 115th duffle bag left just over a week ago.” And the project continues to expand and evolve.

In January 2024, a social worker in Israel working with displaced families living in hotels contacted Ameinu to describe the boredom that adults and children were facing. “We sent activity kits, hook rug kits, candle-making kits, doll-making kits, and yarn and hooks,” said Chasen, who reports that the project was so successful that participants ran weekly markets in the hotels to sell their creations.

Knitted Items for IDF Soldiers
Wool to knit hats for IDF soldiers. Credit: Courtesy.

“I visited the hotels and saw it in person,” she says. “It was very emotional. They were so grateful.”

Even as the war in Gaza appears to be winding down, Ameinu’s work continues.

Group members now make blankets for war amputees at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. Each amputee receives a knitted blanket for their wheelchair. They also provide blankets for every woman who gives birth and has a husband fighting in the IDF. “We have given 157 of those blankets so far,” says Chasen.

She adds that “last week, we got a call from Save A Child’s Heart (the Israeli-based international nonprofit that provides cardiac health care to children worldwide). We do whatever we can. Each person is as important as the next!”

Currently, the team consists of 50 knitters in Montreal, 20 in Ottawa and a few others scattered throughout Canada. Chasen also acknowledges the important work of the “holy pigeons,” those who help get the bags to the airports for transport to Israel. She is unwilling to take credit for the success of the operation, though Chasen admits to working eight to 10 hours daily on the project and playfully says, “it has taken over my life.”

‘Heroes and angels’

On the ground in Israel, people like Maish Isaacson of Ra’anana make sure individuals and organizations receive the precious knitted items arriving from Canada.

Knitted Items for IDF Soldiers
Knitted black hats donated to soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. Credit: Courtesy.

Isaacson, who by day serves as chairman of TELFED—an organization that helps new immigrants from South Africa and Australia integrate into life in Israel and inspires them to give back to Israeli society—reports that his organization has communities and networks of volunteers around the country, and is therefore in a good position to help with distribution.

Like Chasen, Isaacson downplays the importance of his role. “I am simply the point man in Israel, dealing with heroes and angels. I am just a delivery guy. They do amazing work. What I do is minimal.”

Isaacson refers to Chasen as one such angel and heroine.

“Through partnerships like ours with Ameinu, we connected donors directly with projects that made a tangible difference: from distributing wool to elderly evacuees who used knitting as therapy and community-building to delivering thousands of beanies to soldiers stationed from the north to the south, and providing blankets and toys to displaced families,” says Isaacson.

He even gets requests for hats for soldiers while he is praying at his local synagogue.

“Guys will come up to me, say that other guys got hats and ask if they can get some,” he relates. “Any soldier can get them! We are not fussy where they go, as long as they go to a soldier.”

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Originally appeared in Jewish News Syndicate, November 10, 2025

At Kibbutz Re’im, JNF-USA dedicates the first of eight facilities being built “to ensure that border communities are never again left cut off from critical assistance.”

Just across the road from the site of the Nova Music Festival, where Hamas terrorists massacred hundreds on Oct. 7, 2023, members of Kibbutz Re’im gathered on Nov. 5 with Jewish National Fund-USA leaders, donors and emergency officials to mark a milestone in rebuilding and resilience.

At a cornerstone ceremony attended by local dignitaries and philanthropists Michael and Janet Kass of Tampa, Florida, Jewish National Fund-USA dedicated the first of eight planned emergency response centers—part of a nationwide effort to strengthen communication and coordination between emergency services in the Gaza Envelope and northern Israel.

The Kass family’s “transformational gift,” as JNF-USA described it, will help ensure that border communities are never again left cut off from critical assistance, as so many were on Oct. 7.

Southern Region fire chief Itzik Oz expresses appreciation at the dedication ceremony for an emergency resource center on Kibbutz Re’im, Nov. 5, 2025. Photo by Ron Rahamim.

“Bringing all of these organizations together is our way of saving lives,” said Southern Region fire chief Itzik Oz. “Putting the hands of all organizations together is very important. Today, I feel victorious. I feel proud.”

Kibbutz Re’im, one of the hardest-hit communities on Oct. 7, has since become a symbol of recovery. Six residents were murdered, five were abducted and nine soldiers and police officers were killed defending the kibbutz. Yet remarkably, 90 percent of its displaced members have now returned.

Shachaf Maroodi, a kibbutz member who moved back from Tel Aviv to raise his family, recalled how the community took control of its fate after the massacre.

Kibbutz member Shachaf Maroodi and Zohar Livne Mizrahi, the secretary-general of Kibbutz Re’im, share an update on the kibbutz’s rebuilding efforts, Nov. 5, 2025. Photo by Ron Rahamim.

“We were the first kibbutz to take responsibility for our lives,” he said. “The government and army were not there. In our meetings with JNF, it was the first time someone was willing to listen as we reimagined our lives, layer by layer.”

Before the dedication, visitors toured a large new playground under construction at the heart of the kibbutz. “It’s our Central Park,” Maroodi said. “For our kids to want to return, we need to give them a new playground, with a better feeling.”

‘Partnership that allows us to dream’

Zohar Livne Mizrahi, the secretary-general of the kibbutz, praised its partnership with JNF-USA. “The government allows us to fix what was broken—to do rehab,” she said. “What JNF did was allow us to dream. That is important for our healing.”

Tali Tzour Avner, JNF-USA’s chief Israel officer, said her team has worked for years to strengthen the Gaza Envelope, long before Oct. 7. “Our goal was always to grow the region,” she said. “After the attacks, we understood the urgent need to support the regional councils and the return of evacuees.”

Michal Uziyahu, who is the mayor of the Eshkol Regional Council, said the new centers represent “radical hope.”

“This is much more than a security plan—it is a spiritual security plan that ensures the deaths were not for nothing,” she said. “Through choosing life and hope, Oct. 7 will be part of our lives—but it won’t define us.”


The Kass family and guests tour a playground under construction at Kibbutz Re’im, Nov. 5, 2025. Photo by Ron Rahamim.

Philanthropy rooted in Israel

Michael and Janet Kass, who have been visiting Israel regularly since the 1970s, became deeply involved with JNF-USA about a decade ago. Michael, 83, a retired Tampa attorney turned real estate investor, said he was inspired by JNF’s commitment to rebuilding and protecting Israeli communities.

“If you have the means, you have to give,” he told JNS.

Judy recalled that her grandparents “were always talking about Israel.” A visit to Jewish National Fund-USA projects in the Negev, she said, “just touched me. I tell Michael that he has to keep working so we can give more to JNF!”

The Kass family plans to return soon to celebrate additional JNF-USA projects in both the Gaza Envelope and northern Israel.

“This partnership is about life, resilience and unity,” said Tzour Avner. “It ensures that when the next emergency comes—and it will—our communities will be ready, connected and never alone.”

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Originally appeared in Jewish News Syndicate, November 2, 2025

“We should rise and cheer people who come on aliyah,” the museum’s CEO, Oded Revivi, tells JNS

Some 150 olim (immigrants to Israel), sat around tables marked by their native languages—Russian, French, Spanish and English—at ANU- Museum of the Jewish People on the campus of Tel Aviv University on Oct. 29. 

As participants sipped lemonade, they drew a prompt from a deck of cards and answered questions about their aliyah experience:  What’s one thing about Israel that most surprised you?  If your aliyah experience was a movie, what would it be called?  What was one experience that made you say, “This is why I made aliyah.”   

Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, an immigrant herself and ANU’s manager of resource development, said, “Life as an olah means that you see and appreciate scenes that I never would have experienced. What can be frustrating in the moment becomes tomorrow’s only-in-Israel funny stories for years to come.”

The activity quickly turned from introspective to playful (with lots of laughter) as participants shared language gaffes and stories of dealing with Israeli bureaucracy. 

The second annual Yom Aliyah event, part of the “Oleh” project, is a joint initiative of ANU, Nefesh B’Nefesh, the Nadav Foundation, the Tel Aviv Municipality and the Ezra youth movement.  It strives to provide support and recognition for olim, regardless of when they made aliyah.

A placemat on a table at the “Yom Aliyah” celebration at ANU Museum, Oct. 29, 2025. Photo by Howard Blas.

In an interview with JNS, Oded Revivi, ANU’s CEO and the former mayor of Efrat, said the name of the event, Oleh Oleh, had a dual meaning. 

“There is a popular Israeli song, ‘Oleh Oleh’, which means, “to rise higher and higher,” he noted. “It is also the name we give to a group of immigrants. Therefore, we should rise and cheer people who come on aliyah.”

Revivi shared the museum’s unique mission and readiness to support olim.

“ANU bears a unique legal title,” he said, noting that the National Library of Israel, Yad Vashem and ANU, formerly known as Beit Hatfutsot, were set up “to be the center for all Jewish communities.”

He explained that olim meet the definition of a community and constitute one. “They all did this extraordinary act—they left their birthplaces and families to move to Israel,” he said. “If ANU can be helpful with absorption and building homes here, it is part of our mission.”

Revivi said that his wife, now a mother of six grown children, many of whom have been regularly serving in Gaza, made aliyah at the age of 23 from England.  His wife’s experience has helped Revivi better understand the immigrant experience. “The challenges she went through are unique for new olim,” he said.

Lindsay Shapiro, ANU’s senior coordinator of English Education, said that each department in the museum—from marketing to fiancé to education—has olim on staff. 

“It is part of our mission.  ANU wants to celebrate that,” she said. “Our goal is to make sure ANU is a museum but also a community center and a cultural hub.” 

Shapiro pointed out that the contributions of olim to Israeli society and the world are featured in exhibits throughout the museum.

Oded Revivi, the CEO of ANU Museum. Photo by Yochai Samet.

After signing in, guests arriving at ANU had the opportunity to visit a marketplace in the museum’s lobby, featuring food, alcoholic beverages, art and clothing on display and for sale by new and veteran immigrants. 

Ari Weiss of Karnei Shomron offered free samples of his Popular Kettle Corn.  Weiss, who also works as an aliyah adviser for Nefesh b’Nefesh, explained how he and wife, Deena, got into the kettle corn business. “We were invited within the yishuv (settlement) for meals and we weren’t sure what to bring. My wife started to make kettle corn, everyone loved it, and encouraged us to sell it!”

Chanie Koenig came to the event from her kibbutz in the north to sell a wide range of chocolate products from her Cacao HaGalil company.  Originally from Long Island, Koenig studied chocolate making in culinary school.  She began by using only goat milk and has expanded her product lines. “We try to incorporate what we see in the north, and use no preservatives.”

A marketplace in the ANU Museum lobby featured food, alcoholic beverages, art and clothing on display and for sale by new and veteran immigrants. Photo by Howard Blas.

Is ‘10 Things’ just a book for students on colAfter signing in, guests arriving at ANU had the opportunity to visit a marketplace in the museum’s lobby, featuring food, alcoholic beverages, art and clothing on display and for sale by new and veteran immigrants. 

Ari Weiss of Karnei Shomron offered free samples of his Popular Kettle Corn.  Weiss, who also works as an aliyah adviser for Nefesh b’Nefesh, explained how he and wife, Deena, got into the kettle corn business. “We were invited within the yishuv (settlement) for meals and we weren’t sure what to bring. My wife started to make kettle corn, everyone loved it, and encouraged us to sell it!”

Chanie Koenig came to the event from her kibbutz in the north to sell a wide range of chocolate products from her Cacao HaGalil company.  Originally from Long Island, Koenig studied chocolate making in culinary school.  She began by using only goat milk and has expanded her product lines. “We try to incorporate what we see in the north, and use no preservatives.”

A family of new immigrants arrives at the Sha’ar Ha’aliyah transit camp near Haifa, 1949/50. Credit: The Oster Visual Documentation Center, ANU-Museum of the Jewish People, Sonnenfeld Collection.

As guests awaited guided tours of the museum’s galleries offered in four languages, many stopped by the screening room on the ground floor to view archival footage from the museum’s Oster Visual Documentation Center collection. 

Rivka Aderet, the adult education senior coordinator and director of the Film Screening Department, shared several clips that showcased Zionism and the aliyah experience, starting in the early 1900s.

The first color film, Aviv b’Galil (Spring in the Galilee), showed pioneers dancing, playing the accordion, and dancing at the site of the Huleh Lake before it was drained to eradicate mosquitoes. A black-and-white 1913 film, Little Tel Aviv, showcased the charming Neve Tzedek neighborhood and was screened at the 1913 World Zionist Congress in Vilna. Another film graphically showed the takeover of a ship of refugees by the British in November 1947.  

In the galleries—especially opened after hours for the olim—some joined language-specific tours while others explored on their own.  A large group of Russian-speakers were guided by a docent in a room displaying synagogues from around the world.  

Three Spanish-speaking immigrants from South America who arrived in Israel approximately five years ago—Carolina Meilich, Maia Dobry and Laura Cohen—explored the “20&20: A Lens of Her Own” exhibition, which features the work of forty female photographers.

The final event of the evening was a concert featuring a sing-along (with words projected on a screen) and optional dancing. Rachel Dratch, director of ANU Global Education, thanked everyone for attending this year’s Yom Aliyah celebration, which is likely to continue next year.

Revivi said he was proud of ANU’s partnership with other organizations and the government that enabled the event to be held. “We want to see how we can continue to offer enjoyment for olim at different periods and timespans-and to see how we can help them integrate,” he said.

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