Hannah Loffman is driven by the opportunity to foster social change, which she does through her work with Jewish Women International and as a small business owner.
Loffman began as JWI’s director of women’s impact and development on March 5 after a trip to Israel with the organization inspired her: “I found an incredible community and support system.”
She brings a master of social work and experience working in the nonprofit sector. Loffman and her three sisters started Challah Back Girls, a small business centering on social justice and tikkun olam in 2020. Seeing people post black squares on Instagram for racial justice, among other displays of performative activism that year, felt “too passive” for the then 22-year-old.
Loffman and her husband live in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., where they’ve been for three years. They are involved in various programs hosted by GatherDC, Sixth & I, New Synagogue Project, Adas Israel Congregation and Washington Hebrew Congregation’s 2239.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, and Jewish values were deeply woven into my every day. I went to Jewish day school for 14 years. My family always had a strong commitment to tikkun olam and repairing the world, and that really shaped my perspective on social justice and community building. I found myself in situations where that was at the heart of everything I was doing, with my Jewish identity being a guiding force. We were members of a shul.
I went to summer camp: Camp Ramah in Canada and Ramah [Day Camp] in Nyack. Then, once I outgrew camp, I was like, ‘I love being Jewish and I get to be Jewish year-round.’ It’s who I am, so I embraced that. I started to work the first year I could at Camp Ramah in Nyack, New York. I went to Jewish high school, [then] took a Jewish gap year. I’ve always been deeply connected to my Jewish identity.
What are your responsibilities as JWI’s director of women’s impact and development?
In that role, I have the privilege of mobilizing some of the resources that support JWI’s critical work in advancing women’s safety, leadership and financial security. I work primarily with our Young Women’s Impact Networks all across the country. The one in D.C. was actually the first one that was founded, so my role with them allows me to build these relationships with the young women and young professionals in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area and with stakeholders who are also passionate about gender equality and social change.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
This is the first job where I wake up in the morning and am like, “This is what I get to do for work!” I get to imbue my Jewish values and identity into such pertinent work, especially with what we’re seeing around us in D.C. in particular, but also across America when it comes to gender in the workforce or financial independence and relationships or gender-based violence or interpersonal violence. My favorite part is starting my day and knowing that I am making a difference.
How does your background in social work tie into your role at JWI?
I feel like my work [at JWI] is an extension of this value of tzedakah and charity. It’s not just by virtue of being a nonprofit — it’s an organization people donate to — but it’s really a commitment to justice and systemic change.
What inspired you and your siblings to start Challah Back Girls?
Challah Back Girls started as a way of merging Jewish tradition with social action. We saw what was happening in the world around us in May 2020 and it didn’t sit right to post a black square on social media or to share a quote on our Instagram Stories or to post to Facebook how horrible of a place our society was in. At the time, I was graduating undergrad; my degree was in human development and my minor was Israel studies. So I felt like I had this keen understanding of having the uncomfortable conversations that came with being an Israel studies minor and having the important conversations about social action and social justice that came with my human development major.
With Challah Back Girls, it was this simple idea to bring activism into this ritual that we were raised doing: the act of making challah. It grew into this movement for education and community building, using challah as a vehicle for social change.
We partnered with organizations to center their missions and redirect people’s attention to what was happening. We were intentional about picking the organizations that we partnered with, whether they were small businesses, local businesses, women-owned businesses, Black- and brown-owned businesses, supporting the underrepresented communities in society and making that the focal point to remind people that we’re all human; we all have a place on this Earth. We partnered with organizations with the same underlying mission and values, and now we’ve grown so much.
We do in-person events and virtual events. Challah is able to raise awareness and funds for causes ranging from racial justice to reproductive rights. And it grew very quickly; when I think back to its inception, I often get overwhelmed thinking about how it came to be because none of us have business backgrounds, our parents supported it with funding and it was a lot of trial and error. It was truly a grassroots effort that has grown into a full-fledged business that I’m really excited to bring to D.C.
