Israeli, Palestinian & 'Katrina' Heroes To Receive “Prize for Humanity”
The Interfaith Encounter Association, a thriving dialogue group bringing together members of Israel and Palestine’s religious groups in cities across the region, will this weekend be a co-recipient of the Immortal Chaplains Foundation’s Prize for Humanity.
Long Beach, CA — The Immortal Chaplains Foundation announced it will present its 7 th Prize for Humanity on Sunday February 5th 2006 from 2-4pm aboard The Queen Mary, an historic ocean liner that also served as a WWII troopship. The four Chaplains - Jewish, Catholic and Protestant - gave up their life jackets to soldiers on the torpedoed troopship Dorchester, and went down together, arm-in-arm in common prayer on February 3, 1943. Their self-sacrifice and compassion for others, regardless of faith or race, was memorialized on a 1948 U.S. postage stamp entitled "These Immortal Chaplains - Interfaith in Action". Their legacy is the basis for The Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity, given to "those who risked all to protect others of a different faith or ethnic origin." Honorees for 2006 are:
Dr. Yehuda Stolov & Interfaith Encounter Association in Israel & Palestine; Dr. Stolov, an Orthodox Jewish-Israeli, organized colleagues from Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Druze faiths in 2001 to counter the escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Risking their lives, they held public seminars to break down hostility and mistrust and have now created a sustainable model of Interfaith understanding and hope. Representing the organization's colleagues for the Prize will be Ms. Najeeba Sirhan, Palestinian School Principal in Majd el-Krum.
Petty Officer 2nd Class, Jonathan M. Rice & U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Teams; During the devastating 2005 'Hurricane Katrina' in New Orleans, Coast Guard Petty Officer Rice and his crew of rescue helicopter CG6522, were the first to appear to those abandoned to the storm. As Rescue Swimmer, Rice risked all to affect the hoisting rescue of 223 persons – most of different ethnicity than himself. Meeting with extreme physical hazards, Rice portrayed a positive attitude of hope continuously for 5 days and nights.
Past Honorees include (2000) Paul Rusesabagina, subject of the recent film, Hotel Rwanda; (1999) Amy Biehl, an American Fulbright scholar who died in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa; and (2000) Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat who signed over 5000 visas for Jews escaping the Nazis in WWII. For a complete list see: www.ImmortalChaplains.org . The Foundation recently move its headquarters from Minneapolis, MN to Long Beach, CA aboard The Queen Mary. An Interfaith Memorial Sanctuary at the new location will include a diorama depicting the final moments of the four Immortal Chaplains and the 670 men who died with them.
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