Champion of Women’s Rights to Address Local Jewish Community

Anat Hoffman, a renowned advocate of gender equality in the State of Israel, is the guest speaker Sunday, May 23, at 11 a.m., in a livestream hosted by Congregation Shir Shalom of Westchester and Fairfield Counties (CSS). To receive the Zoom event link, contact [email protected]

Hoffman is Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the legal advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel, and Board Chair of Women of the Wall.

Based in Israel, Women of the Wall is a multi-denominational Jewish feminist organization whose goal is to secure the rights of women to pray at the Western Wall (also called the Kotel) by singing, reading aloud, and wearing religious garments, none of which is tolerated by Israel’s Orthodox Jews. In addition to gender segregation, there are restrictions in Israel on non-Orthodox practices observed by the Conservative and Reform movements.

In her role as head of Israel Religious Action Center, Anat Hoffman has fought and won recognition of Reform and Conservative conversions by the state, and led the struggle against gender segregation in the public domain, including on buses and airplanes.

An Israeli born in Jerusalem, Hoffman has dedicated her adult life to the Jewish principle of tikkun olam, which literally means “repairing the world.”

She was Israel’s swimming champion (as a teen); served on Jerusalem’s city council for 14 years as leader of the opposition to the ultra-Orthodox administration; and was named Person of the Year by the newspaper Haaretz, in 2013. She was selected as one of the 50 most influential Jews by Jerusalem Post in 2014, and in 2018 was included among Israel’s top women activists, by the newspaper Globes.