Praying Landed Her in Trouble

Written by Jan Jaben-Eilon Wednesday, April 14 2010

Snapshot: Anat Hoffman
For the last 20 years, Anat Hoffman has been a politician and community organizer, passionately working for a variety of causes in her home country of Israel. She started by serving as a board member of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (similar to the American Civil Liberties Union), then served on the Jerusalem City Council for 14 years as a member of the left-leaning Meretz Party. She was one of the founders of an organization called Women of the Wall, which for more than two decades has been fighting for the rights of women to pray at Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall. And she is the director of the Israel Religious Action Center, the legal and advocacy arm of the liberal Jewish Reform Movement in Israel, which works to advance religious pluralism, social justice, and tolerance toward minorities in Israel. Israel has no separation of religion and state; life-cycle events such as marriage and divorce are controlled by strict Orthodox Judaism.

Hoffman was a champion swimmer in Israel, which she says helped prepare her for her political fights. She is the mother of three children.

Womenetics: What brought you into politics?
Anat Hoffman: It was an accident. A young Israeli woman who had been sent to Washington, D.C., to learn about women’s rights had returned to help identify women for leadership roles. She was pregnant at the time, and we were in the same natural childbirth class together. She asked me if I ever though of going into politics and asked me to run for the board of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. We were at a meeting and she lifted my right arm, and I became a board member. I’ve been trying to emulate that for other young women all my life. As a board member, I got elected to the Jerusalem City Council. I had the first baby ever born (while the mother was serving) in City Hall.

Womenetics: Israel is such a macho society, so despite the fact that the country had a female prime minister and the head of a major party is female, how difficult is it for a female to succeed in Israeli politics?
Hoffman: The fact that we had a woman prime minister doesn’t have anything to do with women’s rights. Golda (Meir) was the unusual case. Look at the proportion of women in the legislature. It’s now 21 females out of 120 members; in 1948 when Israel became a state, we had 14 out of 120. That’s not a good enough pace in 62 years. In Scandinavian countries you see women coming into their own; there are many mayors who are female. In our municipal governments, we only have two women. Eighty-six percent of the city counselors are men. In the United States, there are many females serving as mayors, which provides an incubation setting. The reason for this situation in Israel is two-fold: our strongest forces are the religious and the military. In the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) today, we have 40 generals or rabbis. We have never had a woman general or one woman rabbi recognized by the state. These are very strong old boys’ networks. Men usually finish their military careers when they are still young; they have connections, money (from pensions), and clout. I think running a city is more like running a home than running the military.

Womenetics: What are the biggest issues for females in Israel today?
Hoffman: First, equal pay for equal work. In some institutions, like insurance and banks, women get 90-percent less than men. That’s an extreme case, but there are many instances, like in the municipalities, where women get 40-percent less. This doesn’t come from base salaries, but perks that are very male oriented, like extra hours. Pensions are more equal because there are no perks, but if a woman works extra hours, she usually doesn’t get paid; it’s considered volunteer. Yet, on average, women are more educated and more loyal. The second issue is freedom to get divorced because of the religious courts. There is no civil marriage (or divorce) in Israel. A woman can’t grant herself a divorce; the man has to grant it. Third is coercion of religion against women. We see this in what is happening at the Western Wall (where women’s rights to pray are limited), and the segregated (by sex) buses and sidewalks, and the enforcement of modest dressing. The fact is that the two groups most under-represented are women and minorities. The two groups that are over-represented are immigrants (primarily Russian immigrants who are more right wing) and the ultra-Orthodox.

Womenetics: Why were you arrested early this year (at the Western Wall) and what is happening with the case?
Hoffman: I wasn’t arrested; I was detained. I was interrogated and warned. There’s an investigation under way to see if they can charge me. This has made it difficult for me to go abroad; the Jerusalem police have to OK it each time. The investigation is on whether I’ve broken the Regulation on Holy Places that says one can’t perform a religious act that upsets others at the Western Wall. There could be a 10,000 shekel ($3,300) fine or prison. What I did (to be detained) was wear a talit (prayer shawl), pray out loud, and carry a Torah.

Womenetics: You wear so many hats, as chair of the Women of the Wall and director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC). How do you manage your time, and do the roles complement or conflict with each other?
Hoffman: I think they complement each other. IRAC fights for pluralism, not just for the Reform Movement, and Women of the Wall is showing there’s a place for pluralism at the Wall. So far (the two roles) work well together. The Orthodox have made women the central issue, and I have to give credit to Women of the Wall, most of whom are Orthodox, but their chair is Reform. But we are all sisters. We can be as bold and courageous as the most weak and afraid Orthodox woman. My problem is not managing my time; my problem is family support. If I deserve a prize for anything, it’s for confronting my family again and again and dealing with my kids and ex-husband. My activities are seen as an economic burden and that I haven’t fulfilled by role as a mother. I’ve cried more over this than anything.

Womenetics: What role can American women fill to help you in your efforts in Israel?
Hoffman: The Wall has resonated better than any other topic. American women already fought for equal pay for equal work and say Israeli women need to fight that battle. But the Wall is ours and yours (American Jewish women). The fact that women can be charged for a felony for something (praying at the Wall) that American women do in their synagogues just doesn’t make sense. I think Barbara Streisand (who bought one of the prayer shawls the Women of the Wall sell) should come to the Wall and see if they arrest her. That would be huge. I say that her role in the movie Yentl is here now.
If you look at the U.S. State Department report on religious rights, you will see 12 pages about the Women of the Wall. I’d like to see American Jewish women getting up in arms over this. We fought for the Wall in 1967 when we took it back from the Jordanians, and now we’re fighting for it again from the Orthodox.

Womenetics: Your career has focused on fighting battles. How do you find ways to “lighten” your life?
Hoffman: This is a very American question. My purpose in life is to find meaning in my life, not to pursue happiness. I have fun in those battles. The hard part is getting out of the house and justifying that I’m making a difference in the world.

Womenetics: Do you feel your swimming career prepared you for your future battles?
Hoffman: Absolutely. I learned how to breathe and get the voice and body ready for times of stress. I have no fear of public speaking. I still swim almost every day. I focus on the center of gravity, in pulling the water under the center of gravity which helps to pull efficiently and swim fast. Swimming fast to me is swimming beautifully. It’s a lonely sport; you must root for yourself, very much like politics. I like the fact that swimming is a big equalizer. It’s you, the clock, and the water, which gives me a sense of fairness. I swim at Hebrew University in the Howard Cosell Center. He gave his money for it but most Israelis don’t even know who he was. (A well-known American radio and TV sportscaster.)

Womenetics: Here in America we’ve heard a lot about community organizers since Barack Obama ran for president. Is that what you’d call yourself?
Hoffman: Yeah, I guess so. I haven’t studied that skill, but when I look at what I do, working for a cause with others and overcoming our differences, I guess so. The Women of the Wall is the only multi-denominational group that prays together. It’s been going on for 21 years, and we are all about prayer. The struggle is only a side issue.

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Jan Jaben-Eilon was a founding staff writer of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Since then, she has been the international editor of Advertising Age magazine and has written for such publications as The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Washington Journalism Review, and Consumer Reports. She is the author of soon-to-be-published (There is) Life After Cancer. Jan and her husband have homes in Atlanta and Jerusalem.