AFHU Honors and Awards

AFHU Honors and Awards

AFHU’s diversified programs and events foster awareness of and support for The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Each year, leading AFHU supporters and friends are honored for their role in furthering AFHU’s mission and for their unwavering dedication to Israel. Award categories are as follows:

National Scopus Award
The National Scopus Award is the highest honor the American Friends can confer. Named for Mount Scopus, where The Hebrew University’s first cornerstones were laid in 1918, the award has come to symbolize the University’s highest ideals. It is awarded to individuals who demonstrate humanitarian concerns throughout their careers. The award, originally designed as a representation of Mount Scopus, now calls to mind the Mount Scopus campus of The Hebrew University, which sits like a crown atop Jerusalem – a fitting site for “The University of the Jewish People.”

Some past recipients of the award include: Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, Elie Wiesel, Itzhak Perlman, Peter Ueberroth, Harvey M. Krueger, Stanley M. Bogen, Gerald Ford, Nancy Reagan, Frank Lautenberg, Edward Kennedy, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Milton Friedman, Neil Simon, Barbara Walters, Zubin Mehta, Frank Sinatra, Steven Spielberg, Carl Levin, Saul Bellow, Benjamin Netanyahu, George Schultz, Joseph Antonini, Alex Grass, Quincy Jones, Henry A. Panasci, Jr., Billy Crystal, Tom Ridge, Jack Rudin and Frank Gehry.

Torch of Learning Award
This award is conferred as a mark of recognition of leading men and women in business and the professions who have influenced the course of higher learning in the United States and Israel. The award itself was originally a bronze statuette of a boy holding the torch that is the symbol of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and it was signed by the noted artist,
Chaim Gross, who designed the award. In 1992 a new award was designed – a large crystal torch sitting atop an inscribed square base.

In conjunction with an annual fundraising event, AFHU regions have been encouraged to establish annual Torch of Learning Awards for lawyers, with the award named for a prominent lawyer in the region, preferably someone associated with Hebrew University/AFHU, as has been done in New York with the annual George A. Katz Torch of
Learning Award, established in 1971, and the Harvey L. Silbert Torch of Learning Award, established in 2002 in Los Angeles. The Midwest region has Torch of Learning fundraising events as well. A Humanitarian Torch of Learning Award
was given to Fran Drescher in LA in 2003.

MAIMONIDES AWARD
This award is conferred by AFHU and the Lautenberg Research Center to honor philanthropic commitment to pioneering medical research conducted at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Maimonides Award recipients are distinguished by their humanitarianism, communal leadership and work in support of research breakthroughs that will benefit mankind. This elite honor has been named in memory of Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), the legendary physician and philosopher whose insight has dominated Jewish thought for eight
centuries, and whose wisdom has been studied throughout the generations. The award, established in 2005, has been presented to Howard W. Lutnick, Gerald H. Lipkin, Andrew B. Abramson and Michael Kurtz..

BA’ALEI HAIM AWARD (keepers/guardians of life award)
The Ba’alei Haim Award was created in 2006 to be awarded to deserving honorees at events in support of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment. The first such award was presented to Dr. Richard and Shelly Weitzman in September 2006, in Washington D.C. at the event, “Paws for a Cause.”

ETZ SHALOM AWARD (tree of peace award)
The Etz Shalom Award is a representation of the statue that has been designed to be installed in the courtyard of Hebrew University’s Faculty of Dental Medicine to symbolize the collaboration between Hebrew University and Al Quds University. The Award is presented to AFHU honorees furthering that partnership, and was first presented to
honorees at the Greater New York Region’s Bridges to Peace Dinner in October 2007.

EINSTEIN AWARD
American Friends of The Hebrew University’s Einstein Award pays tribute to the singular contributions of leaders and intellects who have made a profound, far-reaching impact on the course of modern science and technology and whose philanthropic activities improve the lives of people throughout the world.

Established by AFHU in 2008, the award honors the multifaceted legacy created by Albert Einstein, one of the world’s most brilliant minds. A pioneering physicist and founder of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Albert Einstein, throughout his life, supported the causes of human rights and intellectual freedom. His scientific and humanitarian influence has extended far beyond his lifetime, and his achievements continue to affect humanity in positive ways. Microsoft founder, Bill Gates received the inaugural Einstein Award in December 2008.

LEADERS OF DISTINCTION AWARD
This honor is awarded to leaders and humanitarians who have made an impact in their local communities and on behalf of the State of Israel. Established by AFHU in 2009 and first awarded by the Southeast Region, the Leaders of Distinction Award ranks among the most cherished honors in American Jewish life. It symbolizes the enduring commitment of very special American leaders who have demonstrated their concern for Israel and Jewish continuity, and whose efforts help humanity as a whole. The Woman of Distinction Award is also part of this category.