Anat Hoffman

Anat Hoffman (Hebrew: ענת הופמן; born April 2, 1954) is an Israeli activist and the former executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, also known as IRAC.

In 2013, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz named her "Person of the Year", noting the award reflected "the prominence that she has achieved across the Jewish world over the past 12 months".

In 1974, after she had completed her service in the Israel Defense Forces, she and her husband at the time, Michael, left for the United States to study.

Returning to Israel, she became an activist for religious pluralism, becoming involved in the founding of Kol HaNeshama, a Reform or progressive synagogue in Jerusalem.

[4] In the late 1980s she led a consumer-rights campaign against Bezeq, the Israeli telecommunications monopoly, over its refusal to offer its customers itemized bills.

[9] When Israel's Supreme Court ruled in favor of Women of the Wall, Orthodox leaders and rabbis protested the decision.

[10] Arrested multiple times for wearing a prayer shawl at the Wall, Hoffman was defended by the Anti-Defamation League, which issued a statement saying that reports of her treatment, at the hands of Israeli police, were especially disturbing.

Anat Hoffman observing a WOW Torah Reading