JERUSALEM (JTA) — Four leading rabbis will be honored for their work in applying halacha, or Jewish law, to modern life.

The Katz Award 2014 recipients were announced on Sunday, after being selected by a committee chaired by former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, and made up of Talmudic Scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz and Hebrew University President Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson.

The four award recipients are Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of Britain; Rabbi Zvi (Herschel) Schachter, rosh yeshiva of Hebrew University; Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg, the Rosh Yeshiva of both the Hasidic Yeshiva of Sadigura and the Jerusalem College of Technology and the co-author of the Rabbinical Council of America’s prenuptial agreement; and the late Rabbi Yehoshua Yeshaya Neuwirth, a rabbinic scholar who authored Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah, the authoritative work on the laws of Shabbat and Yom Tov.

The Katz Award was established in 1975 by Marcos and Adina Katz of Mexico and is awarded to individuals and enterprises engaged in the application of halacha – Jewish law in modern life – in the creation of written work and practical applications.

Previous winners include: Previous recipients include: the late Rabbi Yosef Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik, the late Rabbi Shlomo Goren, Prof. Menachem Elon, Prof. Nahum Rakover, and Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Bar Ilan.
The awards will be presented at a special ceremony in Jerusalem on May 27.
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