Nine people of different faiths and nationalities were awarded the President’s Medal of Honor at a glittering ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening.
Since taking office in July 2021, President Isaac Herzog has awarded medals to distinguished personalities in Israel and abroad, including to former United States president Joe Biden during the latter’s term in office. He is due to award the medal to US President Donald Trump sometime next year.
The ceremony on Wednesday was the third group award. There have also been solo awards to various world leaders and other notables. Some of the awards were made during Herzog’s state visits abroad.
Over the past two years, Herzog has made a point of inviting Supernova music festival survivors of the October 7 massacre, families of hostages and fallen soldiers, and released hostages to events at the President’s Residence to assure them that they have not been forgotten and to heighten awareness among others in attendance.
Wednesday’s ceremony was no exception. Among those present were returned hostages Matan Angrest and Segev Kalfon and members of their families.
Dr. Miriam Adelson, the last of the recipients, said she had thought about not coming, because she is recovering from a broken leg, but decided that she did not want to miss out on being among such fine people as her fellow recipients.
Adelson literally wears her Jewish identity on her sleeve. On top of her magenta taffeta skirt with matching top, she wore a white embroidered lace frock coat in which the lace had been fashioned into a recurring pattern of Stars of David.
A brief description of each of the honorees was given by Herzog in his speech prior to the awards, after which each recipient was individually announced, and a short video featuring that person was shown on a giant screen.
Individuals of spirit and action
The first recipient on Wednesday was Prof. Dina Porat, a Holocaust historian and expert on antisemitism. The others were Galila Ron-Feder Amit, an author of children’s books; Moti Malka, founder of the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra; retired Supreme Court justice George Costa Karra; Sheikh Muwaffaq Tarif, the spiritual head of Druze communities of the region; Dr. Yossi Vardi, a hi-tech guru; Dr. Mathias Dopfner, a journalist and businessman who is the majority shareholder of the Axel Springer SE media group; and Prof. Avi Ohry, an international expert in rehabilitation medicine and trauma treatment.
In introducing the honorees, Herzog described each one as a person of spirit and action, of vision and purpose, who refused to accept the world as it is and chose instead to work for the world as it can and should be.
Porat, the daughter of a leader of the Jewish community of Argentina, said while everyone in the community was focusing on Zionism, she felt it was important to learn about the Holocaust and devoured literature on the subject.
Ron-Feder Amit emphasized the importance of knowing history, especially Zionist history, which she introduced to young readers through the characters in her books.
The most gratifying thing for writers of children’s books, she said, was first to hear someone say that they had read all the books that the writer had written, and secondly to hear them say, “I grew up on your books.” She hoped that they had learned something in the process.
Malka recalled that for a long time, the only folk music that was heard on radio in Israel during the Ashkenazi hegemony was that of Russian origin. It troubled him that Sephardi and North African music was being ignored.
He decided to do something to bring about change, and since then, Israelis have become more aware of Sephardi melodies and of the cultural contributions of North Africa’s Jewish communities.
Karra, who was born to an Arab family in Jaffa, had a hard time being accepted into Israeli society. Many doors were closed to him, and even as a schoolboy, he was made to feel unwanted. But he persevered with his studies, earned a law degree, and eventually became a Supreme Court justice, retiring at the age of 70.
He had been aware of other Arab boys who had given up on their studies because they felt unwelcome. He reasoned that it was better to feel unwelcome on the inside, while pursuing a career, than on the outside without a career.
Incidentally, Karra was the judge who convicted former president Moshe Katsav and former publisher and editor Ofer Nimrodi, among other well-known people. He was more influenced by the law than by anyone’s status.
As the head of one of Israel’s minority communities, Tarif is well acquainted with what dialogue can achieve. Even though Druze citizens serve in high-ranking positions in the IDF, have been elected as MKs, and appointed as ministers, and even represented Israel as diplomats abroad, including as ambassadors, some sectors of the Druze community do not feel fully accepted.
Wednesday was a great day for Tarif and other Druze figures. In addition to receiving the Medal of Honor, earlier in the day, he attended the inauguration of the Saban Druze Heritage Center, which is funded to a large extent by Israeli-American businessman and political activist Haim Saban.
Vardi, who is widely recognized as one of Israel’s start-up pioneers, said he had launched his first venture with three friends from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. He kept coming up with new ideas, most of which worked.
Eventually, the Technion gave him an honorary doctorate. When he told his mother, her response had been, “But an honorary doctorate is not a real doctorate.” Pointing his finger heavenward, Vardi addressed his mother and said: “Now I‘ve got the Medal of Honor.”
Dopfner, together with Axel Springer’s widow, Friede, owns the majority shares in the Axel Springer SE media group and is considered to be among the most influential people in Europe. He is known for his outspoken comments and writings against Islamic fundamentalism and considers himself to be a non-Jewish Zionist, whose motto is “Zionism above all.”
The late Axel Springer had a strong personal relationship with Teddy Kollek, the legendary mayor of Jerusalem, and the Axel Springer Group has consistently been pro-Israel, albeit not without occasional criticism of Israeli policies and actions.
Friede Springer also attended the Medal of Honor Ceremony.
Dopfner said as a boy he had watched an American television series on the Holocaust and was determined to do something to prevent such a thing from happening again. “I guess that’s why I became a journalist,” he said.
Dopfner said he admires the spirit of Israel, and whenever he feels depressed, he comes to Israel. Visibly moved by the honor accorded him, he said of all the prizes he had ever received, this was the most meaningful and important.
Ohry was severely wounded while fighting in Syria during the Yom Kippur War. Rehabilitation – both physical and mental – was not what it is today, and it took him much longer to recover than it does for most of the wounded over the past two years.
Empathy is essential in helping people undergoing rehabilitation, he said, and the connection between physician and patient should continue after the patient leaves the hospital. “It doesn’t end once he’s discharged,” he added.
Adelson, a living symbol of the American-Israeli alliance, lives by the motto of her late husband, Sheldon Adelson: “Stand up for what you believe in – even if you have to stand alone.”
She has been standing up for Israel and the hostages throughout the period of captivity, and she reminded everyone about the deceased hostages whose remains must be returned to Israel for burial.