Ginsburg to receive Genesis lifetime achievement award next year in Israel
US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will travel to Israel next summer to be honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Genesis Prize Foundation, the organization announced Wednesday.
Ginsburg will be the inaugural recipient of the prize, which is being given to mark the fifth anniversary of the Genesis Prize, also dubbed the ‘’Jewish Nobel.’’
“Her outstanding contribution to the development of a fair and just society that provides equal opportunity for all makes her a perfect role model for young Jews. Ginsburg is a source of inspiration not only for Jews but also for people of all faiths and nationalities throughout the world,’’ a statement from the foundation about the announcement read.
Stan Polovets, the foundation’s co-founder and chairman, said about the announcement that it was “a great honor and privilege to cherish a living legend that has done so much to transform our world into a better place.’’
He also noted that, while other award winners receive a sizable donation that is given to charity in their name, Ginsburg’s award will not include a grant or monetary prize.
Former Israeli Supreme Court president Aharon Barak will present the prize to Ginsburg in July 2018.
Ginsburg’s selection for the award was made by former Genesis Prize recipients mayor Michael Bloomberg (2014), actor and activist Michael Douglas (2015), violinist and activist Yitzhak Perlman (2016), sculptor and refugee rights activist Anish Kapoor (2017), and actress, director and social activist Natalie Portman (2018).
A joint statement by the past honorees reads: “We are honored to bestow the Genesis Lifetime Achievement Award on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her outstanding contribution to the development of a fair and just society that provides equal opportunity for all makes her a perfect role model for young Jews. We honor Justice Ginsburg as an outstanding daughter of the Jewish people who made an enduring contribution to human civilization, who is an example of talent and achievement, and who is committed to bettering the world. She is a source of inspiration not just for Jews but for people of all faiths and ethnicities around the world.”
Ginsburg, unlike other figures in the American political sphere, has been vocal about her heritage. In her Senate confirmation hearing in 1993, she noted that her Jewish background made her “alert to discrimination.’’
Ginsburg, who has been a Supreme Court Justice since 1993, has dedicated much of her legal career to the advancement of civil and women’s rights. She was the first woman to be hired as a professor at the Columbia Law School, and was the second woman – and first female Jewish justice – to be appointed to the Supreme Court.