Rabbi Lau's co-winners are author/historian/journalist Shabtai Tevet and the Cameri Theater.
The announcement was made by Education Minister Limor Livnat.
Rabbi Lau was described by the award committee as "a central and admired figure in Israeli society and in the world. His personality serves as a model for bringing religious and secular closer together, and for bridging Israeli and Diaspora Jewry, and between various religions."
Tevet is the author of a four-volume biography of David Ben-Gurion, a biography of Moshe Dayan, and some ten other works. He wrote for Haaretz for 22 years. The Israel Prize committee stated that his works are inalienable assets to Israeli society and to the Jewish nation.
The Cameri Theater was founded in 1944, and became the Tel Aviv municipal theater in 1971. Some 20 million people have seen 470 plays at the Cameri, which stages 7-9 new ones each year.
Rabbi Lau was born in 1937 in Poland, and was liberated from Buchenwald in 1945. He is the son of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau - the last Chief Rabbi of Piotrokow, Poland, who died in the Treblinka death camp. His wife is the daughter of Rabbi Yitzchak Yedidya Frankel, the late Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, and his son, Rabbi David Lau, is the Chief Rabbi of the city of Modiin.
The announcement was made by Education Minister Limor Livnat.
Rabbi Lau was described by the award committee as "a central and admired figure in Israeli society and in the world. His personality serves as a model for bringing religious and secular closer together, and for bridging Israeli and Diaspora Jewry, and between various religions."
Tevet is the author of a four-volume biography of David Ben-Gurion, a biography of Moshe Dayan, and some ten other works. He wrote for Haaretz for 22 years. The Israel Prize committee stated that his works are inalienable assets to Israeli society and to the Jewish nation.
The Cameri Theater was founded in 1944, and became the Tel Aviv municipal theater in 1971. Some 20 million people have seen 470 plays at the Cameri, which stages 7-9 new ones each year.
Rabbi Lau was born in 1937 in Poland, and was liberated from Buchenwald in 1945. He is the son of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau - the last Chief Rabbi of Piotrokow, Poland, who died in the Treblinka death camp. His wife is the daughter of Rabbi Yitzchak Yedidya Frankel, the late Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, and his son, Rabbi David Lau, is the Chief Rabbi of the city of Modiin.