Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

I’d like to thank…The Genesis Prize?

The Grammy’s, the Nobel, the Oscar’s, the McArthur…The Genesis Prize? Soon a new award may be added to the list of the world’s most prestigious (and profitable) accolades.

Natan Sharansky, the current Jewish Agency chairman, has supposedly proposed something called “The Genesis Prize,” a $1 Million award for Jewish contributions to humanity in areas including science, art, medicine and other areas, according to an article posted yesterday on Ynet.

The prize, which is being billed as the Jewish Nobel, would be funded by the Genesis Philanthropy Group, a charity formed by Jewish Russian multi-billionaire Mikhail Fridman.

But neither JTA nor the Forward, could confirm the reports with the Jewish Agency or The Genesis Philanthropy Group. Leaving us wondering, will there be a new award or won’t there?

And just in case you were worried, that not enough Jews were winning international prizes– according to MyJewishLearning.com, from 1901-2008 at least 163 of the 750 Nobel recipients were members of the tribe.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.