Sami Rohr prize awarded for novel about Jewish life in Soviet Union
Writer Sasha Vasilyuk wins 2025 Jewish literature prize for her debut book, ‘Your Presence Is Mandatory’
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Writer Sasha Vasilyuk was awarded on Tuesday the 2025 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for her debut novel, “Your Presence Is Mandatory,” which explores the moral terrain of Jewish life in the Soviet Union.
“I wrote this novel to honor voices nearly lost to silence and am immensely grateful and humbled that the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature is paying tribute to this complicated history and the people who lived it,” said Vasilyuk, who was inspired by her family history in writing the novel.
The $100,000 prize, in association with the National Library of Israel, honors the work of emerging writers who examine and describe Jewish life, culture and identity.
The other 2025 finalists included “Fervor,” Toby Lloyd’s a portrait of a British Jewish family grappling with mysticism, belief, and unraveling generational bonds, and “Next Stop” by Benjamin Resnick, which imagines a world unmoored after Israel disappears into a black hole.
Janice Weizman’s “Our Little Histories,” a reverse-chronological journey through one family’s Jewish story from 19th-century Belarus to the present day, was also a finalist for the prize.
The winner and finalists will be honored at an award ceremony in July at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem.
“As Jewish communities worldwide face renewed threats and dangerous distortions, it is especially meaningful to recognize writers who confront these challenges with honesty, depth and imagination,” said George Rohr.
The Rohr family established the prize in 2006, honoring real estate developer and philanthropist Sami Rohr’s lifelong love of Jewish writing.
The $100,000 prize alternates annually between fiction and nonfiction and is awarded by a panel of literary critics and scholars.
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