President Isaac Herzog said to the winners of the Katz Prize, "There is something very unique in strengthening this worldview that sees no contradiction between the State and the Bible, between the State, which is essentially a secular entity, and the Halacha."
The 5785 Katz Prize award ceremony took place at the President's Residence in the presence of the President and his wife, Michal Herzog, the prize committee members Professor Menachem Ben-Sasson, Rabbi Haim Sabato, and Rabbi Shlomo Dichovsky, and in the presence of the prize laureates: Rabbi Elchanan Samet, Presiding Rabbinical Judge Rabbi Uriel Lavi, Rabbi Prof. Neria Guttel, Professor Yosef Ofer, Rabbi Zvi Ryzman, Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum, and the Eretz Hemdah institute.
President Isaac Herzog said at the award ceremony, "This is a very moving tradition. I think there is something unique in strengthening this worldview, which sees no contradiction between the Halacha and the Bible and the State, which is essentially a secular entity.
"I want to thank the members of the prize committee, all of whom are people I deeply love and appreciate. Professor Menachem Ben-Sasson, Rabbi Haim Sabato, and Rabbi Shlomo Dichovsky, whom it is a great privilege for us to have here.
"The selection here is excellent, interesting, and fascinating. It continues the tradition and the beautiful commemoration of the late Mordechai.
"I want to conclude with a quote from what my grandfather, Rabbi Dr. Yitzhak Isaac HaLevi Herzog, of blessed and righteous memory, wrote in his speech on the first Independence Day of the State of Israel in 1949. He said: 'The community champions the slogan of the rebirth of the nation in its land, but can there be a national rebirth without a spiritual rebirth? Without the revival of those Divine values for whose realization our nation came into the world? The hour demands establishing the State in Zion, the home of our lives, on the foundations of the Word of God, on the justice and law of our Torah, from which many great and powerful ones have learned. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it and in His Torah.'
"You have thus contributed to the laying of the foundations of the State in a spirit that resonates with our people and the Eternal God. I think this reflects very much the spirit of the Katz Prize, the spirit and the exemplary creation of the prize winners, and I wish for you all to continue to magnify the Torah and make it glorious and pass it from generation to generation. I thank the prize committee and also you, Merav, for the exemplary management of the prize. Thank you all very much."
The President's wife, Mrs. Michal Herzog, thanked the Katz family for the initiative. Mrs. Herzog praised the work of the prize laureates and their efforts to integrate modernity and Halakha in daily life, especially over the past two years.
Prize winners' backgrounds
Rabbi Elchanan Samet is a prominent figure in Religious Zionism and author of commentary books on the Bible. Rabbi Uriel Lavi is the Presiding Rabbinical Judge at the Jerusalem Rabbinical Court and also recognized as the author of the halachic books "Ateret Devorah."
Rabbi Prof. Neria Guttel is the Head of Research at the Torah and State Center, who served in a series of roles and headed a long list of institutions in Religious Zionism, as well as publishing a long list of books and studies. Professor Yosef Ofer is a Researcher of the Masorah and the Masoretic text from Bar-Ilan University.
Rabbi Zvi Ryzman from Los Angeles, is a businessman and a great Torah scholar. He deals mainly with medical-halachic issues that have emerged in our time. Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum, is both a Rabbi and judge, author, and head of the Straus-Amiel Institute, Ohr Torah Stone, for training rabbis for Jewish communities in the Diaspora. He is the rabbi of the Shavei Israel organization, which searches for and nurtures descendants of the Jewish people worldwide. He served as the Chief Rabbi of Uruguay and Turin.
Eretz Hemdah si an Institute for Jewish Studies founded by the late Rabbi Shaul Israeli. The institute deals with training rabbis and serves rabbinical courts in Israel and around the world.
Background on the Katz Prize
The Katz Prize has been awarded since 1975, and its purpose is the encouragement and recognition of projects and individuals engaged in the application and implementation of Halacha in modern life through written works and practical projects.
Mordechai David (Marcus) Katz of blessed memory was a Holocaust survivor, an enthusiastic Zionist, well-known, and highly active in Israel and around the world. Together with his wife Adina Katz, they dedicated much of their strength, fortune, and time to Jewish education in Mexico, Israel, and the USA.
Among the prize recipients in previous years are dozens of individuals and entities who made a significant contribution to the application of Halakha in modern life, including: Rabbi Lord Dr. Jonathan Sacks, Rabbi Zvi (Hershel) Schachter, the late Father Yehoshua Neuwirth, Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, the late Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin, the late Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, the Scientific and Technological Institute for Halakhic Problems in Jerusalem. Prof. Menachem Elon, Supreme Court Justice; Prof. Nahum Rakover; Prof. Yehuda Feliks; Prof. Norman Lamm; Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg; Rabbi Dr. Avraham Steinberg; Rabbi Naphtali Zvi Yehuda Bar-Ilan; Zomet Institute; research and thought in Alon Shvut; the "Otzar Ha-Poskim" project Jerusalem; Shaare Zedek Hospital; Dr. Chana Katan; Rabbi Michel Gugenheim; Keter Institute; Puah Institute; the Mishpatey Eretz Institute headed by Rabbi Avi Gisser; Rabbi Shlomo Dichovsky, member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court; Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Halperin, director of the Schlesinger Institute; and the Torah VeHa’aretz Institute.