US academic is first winner of prize in honour of Rabbi Sacks

Professor Robert Putnam of Harvard will receive prestigious £20,000 award at Bar-Ilan University

Professor Robert Putnam, emeritus professor of public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, has been named as the first winner of the Jonathan Sacks Institute Prize.

The prize, worth just over £20,000, was established by the Gewurz family of Montreal, in memory of Samuel Gewurz. The intention is to recognise individuals who have made exceptional contributions as public intellectuals, advancing the ideas, values, and practical concerns central to the work of the late distinguished leader and thinker, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.

Professor Jonathan Rynhold, academic director of the Jonathan Sacks Institute, which is based at Bar-Ilan University, said: “Both Professor Putnam and Rabbi Sacks highlighted the threats posed by excessive individualism, religious extremism, and polarisation. Their research emphasises the necessity of dramatically increasing social capital—the networks, norms, and trust that enable cooperation for mutual benefit, both within and between groups.”

The author of 15 books, Professor Putnam is the most cited academic in the field of political science in the past 50 years. A recipient of the National Humanities Medal, America’s highest honour for contributions to the humanities, his expertise has been sought out by global leaders including Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, as well as British premiers Tony Blair and David Cameron.

Prof. Putnam said: “Jonathan Sacks was one of the greatest moral, intellectual, and religious leaders of the last half century. I am deeply honoured to receive the inaugural Jonathan Sacks Prize.”

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