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, inaugurated in 2007, seeks to promote writings of Jewish interest and 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 initially administered by the Jewish Book Council.
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 +Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature honorees Year Author Title Result 2007 Winner Not MeRunner-up Our HolocaustRunner-upAccidentsShortlistDisobedienceShortlist2008 Winner Runner-up Houses of StudyRunner-upShortlistChurchill's Promised LandShortlist2009 One More YearWinner Runner-upShortlistShortlistPetropolisShortlist2010 Jewish Renaissance in the Russian RevolutionWinner (tie) Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global CommerceSpeaking of Jews: Rabbis, Intellectuals, and the Creation of an American Public IdentityShortlistStation Identification: A Cultural History of Yiddish Radio in the United StatesShortlistSurprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love ReligionShortlist2011 WinnerRunner-upShortlistShortlistStations WestShortlist2012 When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet JewryWinner Moses Montefiore: Jewish Liberator, Imperial HeroRunner-upShortlistShortlistShortlist2013 Winner Leaving the Atocha StationRunner-upShortlistMottiShortlistShortlist2014 Winner Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox JudaismRunner-upShortlistEmbodying Hebrew Culture: Aesthetics, Athletics, and Dance in the Jewish Community of Mandate PalestineShortlistJews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of ProhibitionShortlist2015 Winner Runner-upPanic in a SuitcaseShortlistShortlistShortlist2016 Winner Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of RevolutionRunner-upShortlistKilling a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of IsraelShortlistShortlist2017 Ways to DisappearWinner Runner-upShortlistShortlistInherited Disorders: Stories, Parables & ProblemsShortlist2018 If All the Seas Were Ink: A MemoirWinner City on a Hilltop: American Jews and the Israeli Settler MovementRunner-upShortlistShortlistJews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century AmericaShortlist2019 Winner Runner-upShortlistMemento ParkShortlistUnderground FugueShortlist2020 Kafka's Last Trial: The Case of a Literary LegacyWinnerHere All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life--in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There)ShortlistShadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear PowerShortlistTehran Children: A Holocaust Refugee OdysseyShortlist2022 Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi TreasureWinner, trans. by Eylon LevyFrom Africa to Zion: The Shepherd Boy Who Became Israel's First Ethiopian-Born JournalistShortlistHidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital AgeShortlist2023, trans. by Daniella ZamirJerusalem BeachWinnerShortlist, trans. by Sean Gasper ByeI'd Like To Say I'm Sorry, But There's No One To Say Sorry To ShortlistShortlist2024Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East ConflictWinnerTime's Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of RemembranceShortlist One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World ShortlistShortlist2025Your Presence Is Mandatory WinnerFervorShortlistNext StopShortlistOur Little Histories Shortlist2026WinnerWho Will Rescue Us?: The Story of the Jewish Children who Fled to France and America During the Holocaust ShortlistShortlistStranger in the Desert: A Family Story Shortlist
References
External links Official website