Jerusalem, April 11, 2006 -- The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities has announced the awarding of the 2006 Gershom Scholem Prize for Research in Kabbalah to Rachel Elior, the John and Golda Cohen Professor of Jewish Philosophy and head of the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University

The prize is presented in memory of Prof Gershom Scholem, one of the leading researchers of Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism and founding father of Kabbalah research at the Hebrew University. The prize will be awarded in a ceremony that will take place at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities on May 10.

The prize committee, headed by Prof. Menahem Haran of the Hebrew University, said it decided to bestow the prize on Prof. Elior for her outstanding contributions to the study of Jewish mysticism. Prof. Elior is a renowned researcher of kabbalistic thought from its earliest manifestations and up to the more modern period.

Prof. Elior also serves as an advisor to the president of the Hebrew University on the status of women and as the chairperson of the academic committee of the Hebrew University Center for Jewish Art.

For further information:
Rebecca Zeffert, Dept. of Media Relations, the Hebrew University, Tel: 02-588-1641, or Orit Sulitzeanu, Hebrew University spokesperson, Tel: 02-5882910 or 052-260-8016. Internet site: http://media.huji.ac.il.