News & Activites

Upcoming Events

Champions of Democracy
DC Vote honors Daniel Solomon, DC Vote founder and Cohen Foundation vice president, and commemorates a decade of excellence at its Tenth Anniversary celebration on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at the Mayflower Hotel. The evening starts with a cocktail reception and silent auction at 6:30 pm. Dinner and program begin at 7:30 pm. More Information

Remarks, Interviews, & Presentations

• Daniel Solomon’s Remarks from N Street Village Gala, March 8, 2007
• Spotlight on Philanthropy: Interview with Daniel Solomon by the Jewish Youth Philanthropy Institute, November 2007
• Stuart Brown’s PowerPoint presentation from the Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues, June 4, 2007

Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Memorial Lecture

The 7th Annual Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Memorial Lecture will feature Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at Adas Israel Congregation. The Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Memorial Lecture was established by the Foundation in 2000 to honor the Cohens’ longtime commitment to Adas Israel Congregation. The theme of the lecture is “The State of the Jewish People,” and past speakers have included: Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Rabbi David Hartmann, Professor Deborah Lipstadt, Former Member of Knesset Amram Mitzna, Former Speaker of the Knesset Avram Burg, and Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg.

Anat Hoffman

Anat Hoffman became Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center in April 2002. 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 is married to Dr. Michael Hoffman, a real estate developer. The Hoffmans have three children: Ariel, Tanya, and Yoel. 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.