2024 Genesis Prize announced

(JTA) — Five Israeli groups supporting Israelis held hostage in Gaza and their families will receive the 2024 Genesis Prize, the $1 million award known as the “Jewish Nobel.”

Presented annually since 2013, the award is given by the Genesis Prize Foundation and has historically gone to Jewish celebrities or public figures. More recently, the foundation has given the prize to organizations that together are tackling a crisis in the Jewish community, including in 2022 when it honored groups supporting Jews in Ukraine.

This year, the foundation turned again to a collective: groups working to support Israelis taken hostage when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which quickly became one of the central organizing groups advocating for the release of the hostages, will share this year’s prize with four other groups: JAFI Fund for Victims of Terror; Lev Echad; NATAL-The Israel Trauma and Resiliency Center; and OneFamily-Overcoming Terror Together.

The groups will not be allowed to use the prize money “to fund political activism, lobbying and other activities inside Israel not directly related to humanitarian assistance,” according to the foundation.