‘Jewish 100’ Honored at Algemeiner Gala
The Algemeiner unveiled its 3rd annual ‘Jewish 100′ list of the top people “positively influencing Jewish life” on Monday night, at a star-studded gala in Manhattan, presided over by publisher Simon Jacobson and editor-in-chief Dovid Efune. Honorees in attendance included Britain’s Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove, News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch and famed philosopher and humanitarian Bernard-Henri Lévy.
Among those on the list are Chabad leaders Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky and Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of Chabad headquarters in New York, as well as Rabbi Berel Lazar, Chief Rabbi of Russia. In the activist column is Crown Heights native Meyer Seewald, founder of Jewish Community Watch.
The event, held at Gotham Hall on Broadway, was attended by some 600 people, who gathered in support of The Algemeiner.
Both Gove and Lévy received The Algemeiner‘s prestigious Warrior for Truth Award, and the paper’s Voice for Humanity Award was presented to actress Tovah Feldshuh. The 2016 Algemeiner Honoree was philanthropist Jeffrey H. Rosen, owner of Israel’s Maccabi Haifa basketball team.
Other notable attendees included: Murdoch’s wife, actress Jerry Hall; news personality Charlie Rose; Israel’s consul general in New York, Ido Aharoni — who delivered welcome remarks on behalf of the state of Israel; longtime New Republic Editor Marty Peretz; French Ambassador to the United Nations François Delattre; artist Ron Agam; and renowned legal scholar Alan Dershowitz, among a number of community and industry leaders.
The evening’s Master of Ceremonies was Fox News‘ Joanne Nosuchinsky, and Event Chairs were Neil and Sharon Book. Elie Wiesel served as Honorary Chairman, and actress Melissa Bolona hosted the red carpet.
Citing examples of the impact of his pages, Editor-in-Chief Dovid Efune said, “At The Algemeiner we have been blessed to see firsthand the world that has been mended by our coverage.”
Murdoch, who presented Gove with his award, was introduced by Algemeiner Publisher Simon Jacobson, who hailed the publication as “a powerful media voice for Israel and the Jewish people.”
The media tycoon praised Gove as a man “who is being talked about as a potential prime minister,” and cited the liberal New Statesman, which referred to him as “one of the most dazzling politicians of modern times.”
In his own remarks, Gove, who has been one of Britain’s most avid defenders of Israel, railed against what he called the “new antisemitism” of the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. “But worse than that – worse than libeling the state of Israel – the BDS campaign, by calling for the deliberate boycott of goods manufactured by Jewish people, by calling for the shunning of the Jewish state, and the rejection of Jewish commerce and Jewish thought, actually commits a crime worse than apartheid,” he said. “It re-introduces into our world and into our society a prejudice against the Jews collectively that should have vanished from the earth generations ago.”
The keynote address was delivered by Lévy, who spoke of three “battles” that must be waged: “Against anti-Zionism, against the denial of the Holocaust and against the false and stupid topic of the so-called competition of victims.”
Concluded Lévy: “These three battles are waged more than anyone in this country — as far as I know — in The Algemeiner.”
Founded in 1972 as a Yiddish broadsheet by veteran journalist Gershon Jacobson, The Algemeiner today publishes a weekly newspaper in English and runs Algemeiner.com.
Photos by Fotobuddy Photography
