On the occasion of the Jewish new year, 5775 (Sept. 2014 — Sept. 2015), starting this Wednesday evening 24 September at sundown, Defending History has announced seven symbolic (non-material) awards to individuals of extraordinary individual achievement in the field of human rights and tolerance in Lithuania. By “individual achievement” we refer to people to stood up, spoke out, and rose to the moral imperative of saying what needed to be said in the spirit of the prophets who felt an inner voice compelling their rising up, rather than in the context of a human rights or tolerance related position, foundation, or NGO. These two genres are harmoniously complementary, and in no way mutually demeaning.
The inspiration has come from an infinitely more established set of awards, theBeigel Shop Awards for Tolerance, which named six laureates, individual as well as collective and institutional, at an elaborate and beautiful ceremony in the government building in central Vilnius held on 19 September, graced by the presence of the prime minister and a former president of Lithuania.