"Wdzięczność • Gratitude • הכרת הטוב" - B'nai B'rith International award for Urszula Antosz-Rekucka

B'nai B'rith International has announced the winners of the first edition of the Gratitude Award - הכרת הטוב - honoring Polish citizens involved in the preservation of Jewish heritage in Poland and the cultivation of Jewish-Polish relations.

The winners are:

in the individual category Urszula Antosz-Rekucka of the Shtetl Mszana Dolna Foundation

in the collective category Forum for Dialogue led by Andrzej Folwarczny

The award, in the form of a statuette by Klara Jankiewicz and a diploma of recognition, will be presented during the celebration of the 100th anniversary of B'nai B'rith in Poland. The ceremony will take place on June 27 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Mordechai Anielewicza 6.

Members of the Award chapter are: director general of B'nai Brith International Daniel S. Mariaschin, chairman of Polish B'nai B'rith Prof. Andrzej Friedman and previous chairman Dr. Sergiusz Kowalski, chairman of the Association of Krakowians in Israel Lili Haber, former Polish Foreign Minister Prof. Adam Daniel Rotfeld, deputy director of B'nai B'rith International Center for Human Rights and Public Policy and director of legislative affairs Rabbi Eric Fusfield, and director of the B'nai B'rith World Center in Jerusalem Alan Schneider.

The award refers to the ancient Jewish duty to honor God and man, expressed in the words of Psalm 56:13: "Upon me, O God, what I have vowed to You.To You I will give thanks" (translation by Czeslaw Milosz). Gratitude - Gratitude - הכרת הטוב is the first - intended to be an annual - award given by the worldwide Jewish community, which is co-presented by B'nai B'rith International, to Poles for their contribution to dialogue and preservation of Jewish heritage.