Anat Hoffman: Struggling for Pluralism in Modern Jerusalem

01/15/2011 - 12:30pm

Saturday, January 15th, 12:30 PM
Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn

Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), and Director of Women of the Wall, on:

"The Search for Cracks in the City of Stone: An Anatomy of the Struggles for Pluralism in Modern Jerusalem"

Jerusalem is a harsh city to live in. It is a city in struggle, a struggle between narrow-minded Judaism and pluralistic Judaism, a battle for appropriate representation for all city inhabitants, a struggle to make it a better place for all to live in.

Anat Hoffman's talk will touch on several issues that pertain to these struggles and to the contribution of IRAC to advance a pluralistic living environment in Israel's capital.

Presented by Congregation Beth Elohim and co-sponsored by Meretz USA. 

Please note: This is a Shabbat luncheon and discussion.  Preregistration will be possible on the Congregation Beth Elohim website; $10 contribution requested.  Payment will not be collected on the day of the event.

Location: Congregation Beth Elohim, 274 Garfield Place (corner of Garfield & 8th Avenue), Park Slope, Brooklyn
(Near the #2, #3, #4 Grand Army Plaza subway station)

For directions by mass transit or car, plus a map, click here.

Additional co-sponsors: Americans for Peace Now, New Israel Fund

 

About Anat Hoffman:

Anat Hoffman became Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center in April 2002. Anat guides IRAC in its work to promote Jewish pluralism, tolerance, and equality and to combat racism, corruption, and religious coercion. During Anat’s tenure, she also expanded IRAC’s mission to go beyond the courts and the Knesset, and to engage in helping people directly through social action.

Previously, Ms. Hoffman served as a Jerusalem City Councilwoman for 14 years, carving out a niche for herself as an untiring warrior for justice and equality.  She has dedicated her adult life to the Jewish principle of tikkun olam. It is this commitment to social action and justice that has formed her career.

In a city where women are traditionally consigned to a subordinate role, Ms. Hoffman led in the battles for the right of women to pray at the Western Wall and for women's equal pay for equal work. Ms. Hoffman pushed relentlessly for the provision of adequate municipal services for the more than 200,000 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. She has fought long and hard to see that the powerful Orthodox bloc in the City Council does not dictate lifestyle choices for the secular population of Jerusalem. Significantly, too, in a city split by religious differences, she has fought tirelessly for religious pluralism.

Ms. Hoffman represented the Civil Rights and Peace Movement on the Jerusalem City Council.  She specialized in attending to the details of municipal administration, where big decisions are often hidden away in the fine print. In doing so, she became a familiar figure in the Supreme Court, as she pursued her quest for information that the bureaucracy preferred to keep secret.  

Anat was born in Jerusalem and in her teens was an Israeli swimming champion. After army service, she received her BSc in Psychology at the University of California in Los Angeles and then pursued graduate studies at Bar Ilan University.  Anat was a founding member of Women of the Wall, and she served on the Boards of the Israel Women’s Network, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and many other Israeli organizations for social change.

In recent years, Anat has become a sought-after lecturer, addressing audiences in Israel and in the United States on subjects close to her heart: social justice, religious pluralism, Jewish-Arab coexistence, and equal rights for women and minorities.