 His defense of the non-religious left a lasting impression on all who knew him.A test of Hoffman’s tenacity and independence came in 1923 when he was invited to serve as rabbi of the Jewish community (Judische Gemeinde) in Frankfurt am Main.There he succeeded the late Rabbi Nehemiah Nobel (the teacher of Franz Rosenzweig) in the position previously held by the illustrious Rabbi Márkus Horovitz, the talmid muvhak of Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer.