Sami Rohr Prize For Jewish Literature

The Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature is an annual prize awarded to an outstanding literary work of Jewish interest by an emerging writer. Previously administered by the Jewish Book Council, it is now given in association with the National Library of Israel.

History

In 2006, the family of Jewish philanthropist Sami Rohr honored his lifelong love of Jewish learning and great books by establishing the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature on his 80th birthday. At its inception, the $100,000 prize was the largest literary prize in North America. The second place winner receives the Jewish Literature Choice Award of $25,000.

The annual award, first awarded in 2007, alternates between honoring fiction and non-fiction and seeks to promote writings of Jewish interest, and to encourage the examination of Jewish values among emerging writers. Awardees are honored at an August ceremony at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. The award was administered by the Jewish Book Council, before being given in association with the National Library of Israel.

In 2023, Israeli author Iddo Geffen won the prize, the first time it was awarded to the author of a Hebrew-language work and its translator, Daniella Zamir. The award to a translated work represented an effort to expand the reach of the prize to non-English works.

Honorees

{, class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
, +Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature honorees
!Year
!Author
!Title
!Result
!Ref.
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2007
,
, '
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, ''Not Me''
, Runner-up
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, '' Our Holocaust''
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, ''Accidents''
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, '' Disobedience''
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2008
,
, '
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, '
, Runner-up
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, ''Houses of Study''
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, ''Churchill's Promised Land''
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2009
,
, ''One More Year''
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, '
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, ''Petropolis''
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2010
,
, ''Jewish Renaissance in the Russian Revolution''
, rowspan="2" , Winner (tie)
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
,
, ''Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce''
,
, -
,
, ''Speaking of Jews: Rabbis, Intellectuals, and the Creation of an American Public Identity''
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, ''Station Identification: A Cultural History of Yiddish Radio in the United States''
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, ''Surprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion''
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2011
,
, '
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, '
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, ''Stations West''
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2012
,
, ''When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry''
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, ''Moses Montefiore: Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero''
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2013
,
, '
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, '' Leaving the Atocha Station''
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, ''Motti''
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2014
,
, '
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, ''Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism''
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, ''Embodying Hebrew Culture: Aesthetics, Athletics, and Dance in the Jewish Community of Mandate Palestine''
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, ''Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition''
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2015
,
, '
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, '
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, ''Panic in a Suitcase''
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2016
,
, '
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, ''Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution''
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, ''Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel''
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2017
,
, ''Ways to Disappear''
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, '
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, '
, Shortlist
,
, -
,
, ''Inherited Disorders: Stories, Parables & Problems''
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2018
,
, ''If All the Seas Were Ink: A Memoir''
, Winner
,
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
,
, ''City on a Hilltop: American Jews and the Israeli Settler Movement''
, Runner-up
,
, -
,
, {{sortname, {{Sort, Lost Book of Moses: The Hunt For The World's Oldest Bible, ''The Lost Book of Moses: The Hunt For The World's Oldest Bible''
, Shortlist
, {{cite news , last=Zax , first=Talya , date=2018-04-30 , title=Sami Rohr Prize Finalists include Ilana Kurshan, Yair Mintzker , newspaper=Forward , url=https://forward.com/culture/books/400024/sami-rohr-prize-finalists-ilana-kurshan-yair-mintzker-shari-rabin-more/ , accessdate=2019-12-12 , archive-date=2019-12-12 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212111641/https://forward.com/culture/books/400024/sami-rohr-prize-finalists-ilana-kurshan-yair-mintzker-shari-rabin-more/ , url-status=live
, -
, {{Sortname, Yair, Mintzker
, {{sortname, {{Sort, Many Deaths of Jew Süss: The Notorious Trial and Execution of an Eighteenth-Century Court Jew, ''The Many Deaths of Jew Süss: The Notorious Trial and Execution of an Eighteenth-Century Court Jew''
, Shortlist
,
, -
, {{Sortname, Shari, Rabin
, ''Jews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century America''
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="5" , 2019
, {{sortname, last=Lukas, first=Michael David
, ''{{sortname, 1=The, 2=Last Watchman of Old Cairo, nolink=1''
, Winner
, {{cite news , last=Grisar , first=PJ , date=2019-05-01 , title=Michael David Lukas Wins 2019 Sami Rohr Prize , language=en-US , newspaper=Forward , url=https://forward.com/culture/books/423614/michael-david-lukas-wins-2019-sami-rohr-prize-for-jewish-literature/ , access-date=2019-12-07 , archive-date=2019-12-07 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207195701/https://forward.com/culture/books/423614/michael-david-lukas-wins-2019-sami-rohr-prize-for-jewish-literature/ , url-status=live
, -style=background:LemonChiffon; color:black
, {{Sortname, Dalia, Rosenfeld
, ''{{sortname, 1=The, 2=Words We Think We Know, nolink=1''
, Runner-up
,
, -
, {{Sortname, Rachel, Kadish
, ''{{sortname, 1=The, 2=Weight of Ink, nolink=1''
, Shortlist
, {{cite news , last=Grisar , first=PJ , date=2019-04-01 , title=The Sami Rohr Prize For Jewish Literature Announces Its Nominees , newspaper=Forward , url=https://forward.com/culture/books/421847/the-sami-rohr-prize-for-jewish-literature-announces-its-nominees/ , accessdate=2019-12-12 , archive-date=2020-08-15 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815050706/https://forward.com/culture/books/421847/the-sami-rohr-prize-for-jewish-literature-announces-its-nominees/ , url-status=live
, -
, {{Sortname, Mark, Sarvas
, ''Memento Park''
, Shortlist
,
, -
, {{Sortname, Margot, Singer
, ''Underground Fugue''
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="4" , 2020
, {{Sortname, Benjamin, Balint
, ''Kafka's Last Trial: The Case of a Literary Legacy''
, Winner
,
, -
, {{sortname, last=Hurwitz, first=Sarah
, ''Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life--in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There)''
, Shortlist
,
, -
, {{Sortname, Yaakov, Katz, dab=journalist
, ''Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power''
, Shortlist
,
, -
, {{Sortname, Mikhal, Dekel
, '' Tehran Children: A Holocaust Refugee Odyssey''
, Shortlist
,
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="3" , 2022
, {{Sortname, Menachem, Kaiser
, ''Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure''
, Winner
, {{Cite web , date=2022-05-19 , title=Menachem Kaiser wins Sami Rohr Prize for nonfiction , url=https://www.jns.org/menachem-kaiser-wins-sami-rohr-prize-for-nonfiction/ , access-date=2022-05-22 , website= Jewish News Syndicate , language=en-US , archive-date=2022-05-20 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520081916/https://www.jns.org/menachem-kaiser-wins-sami-rohr-prize-for-nonfiction/ , url-status=live
, -
, {{sortname, last=Abebe, first=Danny Adeno, trans. by Eylon Levy
, ''From Africa to Zion: The Shepherd Boy Who Became Israel's First Ethiopian-Born Journalist''
, Shortlist
, {{Cite web , date=2022-04-26 , title=Finalists announced for best Jewish literature authors of 2022 , url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-705198 , access-date=2022-05-22 , website= The Jerusalem Post , language=en-US , archive-date=2022-05-22 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522023554/https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-705198 , url-status=live
, -
, {{Sortname, Ayala, Fader
, ''Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age''
, Shortlist
,
, -
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="4" , 2023
, {{Sortname, Iddo, Gefen, trans. by Daniella Zamir
, ''Jerusalem Beach''
, Winner
, -
, {{Sortname, Anna, Solomon
, {{Sort, Book of V, ''The Book of V ''
, Shortlist
, {{Cite web , last=Muchnick , first=Laurie , date=2023-04-30 , title=A Prize Recognizes the Riches of Jewish Literature , url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/a-prize-recognizes-the-riches-of-jewish-literature/ , access-date=2023-05-02 , website=Kirkus Reviews , language=en , archive-date=2023-05-02 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230502005726/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/a-prize-recognizes-the-riches-of-jewish-literature/ , url-status=live
, -
, {{Sortname, Mikolaj, Grynberg, trans. by Sean Gasper Bye
, ''I'd Like To Say I'm Sorry, But There's No One To Say Sorry To''
, Shortlist
,
, -
, {{Sortname, Max, Gross
, {{Sort, Lost Shtetl, ''The Lost Shtetl''
, Shortlist
,
, -
, -style=background:#cddeff
! rowspan="4" , 2024
, {{Sortname, Oren, Kessler
, ''Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict''
, Winner
,
, -
, {{Sortname, Jeremy, Eichler
, ''Time's Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance''
, Shortlist
, {{Cite web , last=Jerusalem Post Staff, date=2024-04-17 , title=Oren Kessler awarded Sami Rohr Prize for 'Palestine 1936,' receives $100,000 , url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-797536 , access-date=2024-04-23 , website=The Jerusalem Post , language=en
, -
, {{Sortname, Michael , Frank
, ''One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World''
, Shortlist
,
, -
, {{Sortname, Natalie , Livingstone
, {{Sort, Lost Shtetl, ''The Women of Rothschild: The Untold Story of the World's Most Famous Dynasty''
, Shortlist
,

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Official website

Awards established in 2006
International literary awards
Fiction awards
2006 establishments in the United States
Jewish literary awards