Hadassah Froman

Hadassah Froman is an Israeli peace activist.

Early life and education

Froman was raised in Lavi, a kibbutz in the Galilee, in an Orthodox Jewish family with right-wing politics.[1][2]

After serving in the army of the Israel Defense Forces, Froman attended Hebrew University, where she studied education.[1]

Career

Froman primarily teaches Zohar, but in the past has worked both as a schoolteacher and as an adult educator.[1]

Activist

Froman is a religious Zionist, and believes that the presence of Arabs in Israel-Palestine indicates that God wants the Jewish people to coexist with them.[2]

Froman and her husband, Menachem Froman, began their activism following the onset of the First Intifada in 1987.[2] Hadassah was the first of the two to feel sympathetic towards the Palestinians, telling her her husband, "They throw stones because they want contact with us".[2] Although Menachem initially dismissed this idea, he eventually also developed a sympathetic point of view.[2]

Froman became involved with Roots after being approached by one of its founders, Ali Abu Awaad.[1][2] In late 2015, the 15-year-old son of a Palestinian Roots member was arrested and charged with throwing stones.[3] Froman spoke in favor of the teenager during his trial, and raised money for his legal fees.[3]

In January 2016, Froman's pregnant daughter-in-law was non-fatally stabbed by a Palestinian teenager.[4] Froman called for a coexistence in an interview shortly afterward with Army Radio, and she called on Israel to make more of an effort to support Palestinians who supported coexistence with Israel.[4] She also criticized delaying the return of Palestinian terrorists' bodies to their families, and the demolition of those families' homes.[4]

Froman was profiled in the 2022 book, Profiles in Peace.[5]

Personal life

Froman and her husband had ten children.[6] As of 2022, she has 50 grandchildren.[7]

She currently lives in Tekoa, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.[1]

References

1. "Biographies - Hadassah Froman". Friends of Roots. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
2. Schvarcz, Benjamin; Billig, Miriam (September 2022). "The Froman Peace Campaign: Pluralism in Judeo-Islamic Theology and Politics". Politics and Religion. 15 (3): 559–578. doi:10.1017/S1755048321000365. ISSN 1755-0483.
3. "Palestinian peacenik's son released from prison, changed but dedicated to non-violence". The Times of Israel. 20 February 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
4. "Mother-in-law of pregnant stabbing victim urges coexistence". The Times of Israel. 18 January 2016.
5. Rosenstein, Marc J. (2022-12-03). "'Profiles in Peace': The power to bring peace for Israel, Palestinians". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
6. "Menachem Froman: Rabbi and peace activist". The Independent. 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
7. Weinberg, Josh (2022-11-04). "The Long Road Ahead". ARZA. Retrieved 2023-11-27.