Matthew Miller, owner of Koren Publishers, was one of two people honored at an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem's reunification, held by Ateret Cohanim in association with Mizrachi Olami.
The event took place on Wednesday at the Armon Hanatziv Promenade overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. The second honoree was Cherna Moskowitz.
Koren Publishers is one of the world’s leading Jewish publishing houses headquartered in the heart of Jerusalem.
“It is no false modesty to say that what we've accomplished, not only in the past 55 years but so much more intensely over the past decade, has truly been a collaborative effort,” Miller said after being honored.
“When Mr. Koren founded his publishing house to proof the Tanakh Koren in 1962, he had three ideals: A commitment to halakhic and textual accuracy, exquisite design at the service of bringing out the meaning of the text, and a profound sense of Zionism and the centrality of Jerusalem. I believe that my colleagues and I share and continue to expand this vision today. With our expansion of publishing activities into English-speaking countries over the past decade, we add one more objective: To build bridges between Israel and the Diaspora through the exchange of ideas and texts,” he continued.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, formerly the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, blessed Miller in a recorded video.
“Matthew, you have developed Koren into a real force for communicating the classic works of Judaism reinterpreted for our time, and you've done so brilliantly,” he said, noting that Koren's work is “at the highest standard of production and literacy and aesthetic beauty in every sense.”
“You and Koren are actually living the words of Isiah, 'From Zion shall go forth the Torah and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem'. You have taken that word and renewed it for our time and sent it the other world.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) was on hand to congratulate Miller as well.
“After having the buildings, we need to have the spirit. What you do is the spirit of this city,” she told Miller. “You are one of the people who are making Jerusalem so great and so wonderful. Continue doing this wonderful work, and I think this evening belongs to the people. When King David is looking from heaven, and he's looking at Jerusalem, he's very happy there in heaven, because he knows that his work to build Jerusalem continues today by modern pioneers.”
Israel's two Chief Rabbis, Rabbi David Lau and Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, attended the evening as well and blessed Moskowitz, Miller and Ateret Cohanim.