Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be honored with Lifetime Achievement Award
Ginsburg will be the inaugural recipient of the prize, which is being given to mark the 5th anniversary of the Genesis Prize, dubbed the "Jewish Nobel."
By SHOSHANA KRANISHUpdated: NOVEMBER 16, 2017 10:02Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg(photo credit: COLLECTION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STAT)
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 5th anniversary of the Genesis Prize, also dubbed the ''Jewish Nobel.''"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,'' a statement by former recipients of the Genesis Prize read.Stan Polovets, co-founder and chairman of the Genesis Prize Foundation, said about the announcement that it was ''a great honor and privilege to celebrate a living legend that has done so much to transform our world into a better place.'' He also noted that 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 Lifetime Achievement Award was made by Genesis Prize recipients former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg (2014), actor and peace activist Michael Douglas (2015), violinist and activist for persons with disabilities Yitzhak Perlman (2016), sculptor and refugee rights activist Sir 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.”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 gain a tenured professorship at Columbia University’s Law School, and was the second woman - and first female Jewish judge - to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
