Helen Rand

Among the items I brought with me to Kfar Saba when I came on aliyah with my husband and three children in 1972 was a small collection of fashionable hats to wear on the Sabbath and holidays when I planned on going to the synagogue. I remember standing out conspicuously with my wide-brimmed hat that first Shabbat. Nobody wore hats; they wore wigs, simple berets or monochrome kerchiefs. "He betach Anglo Saxit" (She's definitely an Anglo Saxon), I heard a few whisper behind me. And so it was for several years, in general, Israeli men were tieless, and women wore tichels (headscarves).

As the number of immigrants from the United States, Canada, England and South Africa increased during the following years, so did the frequency of seeing hats in the synagogue. We would not give in to the more comfortable but less elegant local millinery attire. We believed that it was only a question of time before hats caught on in the Israeli synagogue fashion scene, and we were proven right.

Helen Gurkevich, born in Israel but raised in Canada, returned to Israel as a young adult and saw a window of opportunity. She believed that female synagogue worshippers could look far more elegant in hats and, in l983, she began a business —Helen's Hats. With her children at school and with a flare for fashion she created what has become today a mini-millinery empire with her flagship showroom in Petach Tikva.

With a combination of dedication, hard work, a talented staff and business acumen, and the successful addition of her two now grown children, Orli and Aviv, and in partnership with her husband, Pinchas, Helen now has additional stores in Bnei Brak, Rehovot, Ashdod and Ramat Beit Shemesh. Her hats, snoods, caps, berets, bandanas and scarves are created from felt, straw, cotton, denim, leatherette, organza, satin and silk. They can be found in other hat stores throughout this country and abroad. She exports to Australia, England, South Africa, the United States, Brazil and Canada. Her complete story appears in a chapter in the book, "A Hat in All Seasons," by Don Arnon.

Helen Rand, originally from New York, is the owner and head designer of Kolav Sagol (The Purple Hat Rack) located on route #40 in the Be'erot Yitzchak Mall. Her romance with creating and designing hats began sixteen years ago. An artist and occupational therapist, hat design seemed a natural offshoot. She made her first hat by cutting, painting, adding flowers and material and, presto, a hat was created. The women's hats she now sells, including large hand woven and knitted caps and bandanas, are a "cacophony of colors and textures…to make them artful and original," says a senior member of her staff. "Our motto is that we have 'A Hat for Every Head'." Her factory outlet offers a variety of hats including 'one of a kind' to suit individual customers. "Anything goes today," says Rand. "Thirty-six years ago it was only simple kerchiefs. Anglos certainly have had a strong influence on the development of the hat industry." Rand exports to Australia, England, South Africa and the United States and many tourists find their way to her showroom.

What is of particular interest is the evolving hat scene in Israel, and how the public continues to influence the industry. The l970s saw Anglos wearing the Queen Mother-like hats in Israel. One Brit even felt she was complimenting my New York born mother at a wedding by saying she looked like she had come to the Ascot Races (my mother was not amused). Perhaps hat stores did exist then in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, but in the periphery perfumeries sold hats as did department stores.

Slowly but surely the style changed. The Anglo women have now tired of the rigid hats and softer materials have become more popular. Many of their offspring have become more religious and cover their hair all the time, resulting in more frequent changes for a more marketable price. "The hot climate," says Gurkevich, "created the necessity for head coverings that could be washed frequently. The economic conditions necessitated that they be practical all year round."

Women living in Judah and Samaria have returned to wearing bandanas and scarves and so have many other religious women all over the country. They make their unique creations from intertwining one or more colorful scarves which they wind around their head.

This is a mixed blessing for the hat industry. Although more women are covering their hair they are doing so with the less expensive scarves. But go into any of the now numerous hat stores in Israel and you will find a plethora of gorgeous hats of every kind and multicolored scarves and bandanas of every fabric with both elegant and funky accessories. An outfit is often made complete with a hat. It doesn't have to be for religious reasons.

We have come more than full circle. Both Gurkevich and Rand say that today Israel is making a strong millinery fashion statement. Designers from countries all over the world look to Israel for the last word in head coverings. Tourists shop for hats here. Overseas students who have spent a year or more in Israel and return as immigrants adopt Israeli fashion rather than the other way around. On a recent trip to England I saw the same kinds of hats covering British co-eds as those back home in Israel. Why, only last weekend in Jerusalem an especially well-dressed tourist, eyeing my hat admiringly in the hotel elevator, asked me where I had bought it. "In Kfar Saba," I replied proudly.