The choices for the $1 million Genesis Prize recalls Genesis 1:2: “The earth was unformed and void, tohu va-vohu . . . ” — the landscape of the Genesis Prize?
Or are the administrators of the $1 million prize arrogant enough to believe that their recipients take after Genesis 1:3 and are the ones who, like G-d, “create light” and perpetuate the Jewish people?
Arrogance because it turns out that, according to the Genesis Prize, the most inspiring Jews are those with celebrity status.
The prize, established in 2012 and administered jointly by the philanthropy of the same name, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Prime Minister’s Office, claims to award a Jew who has achieved professional success and “inspires others through their engagement and dedication to the Jewish community and/or the State of Israel.”
The recipients thus far? Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the actor Michael Douglas.
Are you inspired?
Another $1 million bucks to the millionaires and billionaires, neither of whom have ever come up in any prior conversation about inspiring Jews, worthy though they may be in their chosen fields.
When Bloomberg was awarded the prize in 2014, cynicism was rife. Aside from the accident of birth, what was Jewish about Bloomberg’s life? What exactly was his “dedication to the Jewish community and/or the State of Israel?” Sure, he’d given to Hadassah Hospital and Magen David Adom in Israel, but he’s given far more to the many other charities in the US — none of them specifically Jewish. He visited Israel during the Gaza War, but this was after the prize and not a factor in its award.
But as the Forward commented, this year’s recipient makes Bloomberg look like “Golda Meir, Louis Brandeis and, hell, even Moses” combined.
You probably didn’t even know that Michael Douglas was Jewish, because he’s not. His father, Kirk, is the Douglas known for his Jewish pride, but Michael wasn’t raised as a Jew. His mother isn’t Jewish. Yes, he has in the past year embraced his Jewish identity, but does that make him eligible to be the Jew who is inspiring others through his “engagement and dedication to the Jewish community?”
In 2014 Michael Douglas celebrated his son’s Bar Mitzvah in Israel at the Wall. It made headlines. But does it deserve a $1 million reward?
As recently as 2010 Douglas said that he had no formal religion, which doesn’t detract from his newly discovered Jewish identity, but again, does that qualify him for a $1 million Jewish prize?
No. But Douglas is famous. Which seems to be the criterion for receiving the Genesis Prize.
Both recipients pledged the $1 million to charities and philanthropies. Which raises the question, why not simply award the $1 million directly to Jewish charities doing the hard work? Because celebrity is king.
Charity isn’t charity unless it’s facilitated through the vacuity of celebrity life, says the Genesis Prize.
In the case of Bloomberg, the funds did a 180º, going right back to the Genesis group in the form of a $1 million fellowship for young Jews with the similarly vague mission of “seeking to promote human welfare based on Jewish values.”
Are you inspired?
Copyright © 2015 by the Intermountain Jewish News
