Michael Douglas in Israel for award
Oscar winner to receive $1 million Genesis Prize for humanitarian work and commitment to Jewish heritage
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Actor Michael Douglas is in Israel to receive the Genesis Prize, a $1 million award given annually to someone considered to be a role model in the global Jewish community and who can inspire the next generation of Jews.
Founded by the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel, the Genesis Philanthropy Group — which is made up of five Russian Jewish businessmen — and the Jewish Agency, this year’s Genesis Prize will be awarded to Douglas on Thursday, June 18, by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A spokesperson for the Genesis Prize said Douglas is being honored for his professional achievements and fhis passion for his Jewish heritage and the Jewish state.
Douglas, 70, his actress wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and their two children, Dylan and Carys, arrived Sunday at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, where they will be staying until Friday.
The family stayed in the hotel’s $5,400-a-night presidential suite last year when they celebrated Dylan Douglas’s bar mitzvah in Jerusalem.
The Genesis Prize ceremony will be hosted by comedian Jay Leno, who is returning to Israel to reprise his role from last year, having done the same for the 2014 recipient, Michael Bloomberg.
Douglas has said that he plans to contribute the prize to projects that promote inclusiveness in the Jewish community.
