JERUSALEM — The new mayor of Ra’anana, Nahum Hofree, is looking forward to the challenge of following up on the successes of his predecessor, Ze’ev Bielski, and to making his own mark on the Israeli city, which has a partnership with United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.

Hofree, 53, was elected in September to replace Bielski, who left city hall after 17 years in office to become chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel and World Zionist Organization. Hofree worked closely with Bielski as the head of Ra’anana’s Education Division and was his anointed successor.

“I am in my own shoes, not his,” Hofree told New Jersey Jewish News in an interview in his office. “We were like Siamese twins. But I am my own man. My agenda is similar, but my approach is more socioeconomic, and I put a greater emphasis on education in a practical way in the budget.”

Although associated with the secularist Meretz party, one of his first acts in office was to approve the building of a religious high school in Ra’anana.

“Pluralism is the only way that Israel can survive,” Hofree said. “If we don’t accept all the streams in Judaism, we will have a problem. That’s why I have made a point of praying in Ra’anana’s Reform synagogue and Conservative synagogue, the Orthodox shteibel, and visiting the coffeehouse where secular people go on Saturdays.”

Education and pluralism are the two focuses of MetroWest’s partnership with Ra’anana, which started with Israel’s first direct absorption project in 1992. The partnership shifted five years ago to pilot religious pluralism projects in schools, institutions, and congregations, which have become a model for the rest of the country.

Hofree became one of the main facilitators of the projects in his roles in Ra’anana’s Education Division, and he intends to expand them as mayor. He has encouraged the growth of the Conservative Tali school system and has supported efforts to get the pluralist Meitarim High School recognized by Israel’s Ministry of Education.

One program supported by UJC MetroWest sends to every secular kindergarten and some junior high and elementary schools three local scholars: Reform rabbi Tamar Kolberg, liberal Orthodox leader Oshra Koren, and fervently Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Beller.

UJC MetroWest also sponsors a Jewish culture program at MetroWest High School in the city that allows students to learn about Jewish tradition in a non-religious context.

Religious and secular elementary school students visit each other’s schools to discuss what they have in common. The religious high school being built will make an effort to teach pluralism, but with limits.

“We have to be realistic,” Hofree said. “I know I can’t bring a Reform rabbi to an Orthodox school, but we can bring religious and secular kids together. We need to make the kids familiar with all the different paths. We have done well teaching this in the secular schools, but we have more work to do in the religious schools.”

Education has been Hofree’s mantra since leaving a career in the Israeli Air Force a decade ago to serve as principal of Ra’anana’s Ostrovsky High School. After seven years of success in that position, he was named head of Ra’anana’s Education Department in 2003 and was later promoted to head the entire Education Division of Ra’anana, a job he held until he was elected mayor.

A native of Kibbutz Hamapil near Netanya, Hofree earned a degree in business administration from Tel Aviv University. He reached the rank of colonel in the air force, where he served as a commander of a squadron of attack helicopters. His tenure included a stint in Washington, DC, as the air force’s military attaché.

It was in the air force that Hofree learned the importance of pluralism. He said the IDF was the most pluralist institution in Israel, because it includes a wide spectrum of religious, traditional, and secular soldiers from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

In his own home, Hofree celebrates Shabbat with his wife and four children on Friday nights and builds a sukka every year, but before becoming mayor, he rarely went to synagogue, even on the High Holy Days. He has become active in recent years in religious-secular dialogue groups.

Working together

Hofree’s goals as mayor include beautifying Ahuza Road, Ra’anana’s main street, improving the quality of life in the city’s disadvantaged neighborhoods, and helping immigrants by creating a new Hebrew-language school. Ra’anana is one of three cities involved in a community aliya program to absorb North American immigrants. To finance the city’s development, Hofree has started selling municipal bonds to investors.

Although he hasn’t ruled out venturing into national politics after his tenure in city hall, Hofree said he hopes to first serve two four-year terms as mayor and then retire. When UJC MetroWest executive vice president Max Kleinman visited Ra’anana last month, Kleinman invited the mayor to visit the New Jersey region, but Hofree said he would be criticized by his constituents if he went abroad too early into his tenure.

In the meeting, Hofree raised ideas for expanding the partnership with MetroWest beyond projects relating to religious pluralism. He suggested reciprocal trade agreements and programs sending teenagers from Ra’anana and MetroWest to places around the world to teach about Hebrew culture.

A program that sends 18-year-old Israelis to MetroWest as educational emissaries was recently expanded to include students from Ra’anana in addition to MetroWest’s Partnership 2000 sister communities of Ofakim and Merchavim in the Negev. Hofree said he was interested in learning how the people of Ra’anana could do more to help the people of MetroWest and the world.

“The ties are important for both sides,” Hofree said. “There is more that can be done collectively in which both communities can work together for others.”