Among the 14 winners this year are Nachum Kedar, Ruth Lapidoth and Ya'akov Blidstein, all leading scholars whose contributions might have otherwise gone unappreciated by the general public.

[Blidstein] knew that he was a candidate in a general way, but when acting Education Minister Meir Shitrit called, "at first it didn't even occur to me he would talk about this." In fact, Blidstein thought he was calling about something else and, wanting to get off the phone, considered telling him, "I'm not the person you need." Then Blidstein realized what the true purpose of the call was.

3 photos; Prof. Ya'akov Blidstein, winner of the Israel Prize for Jewish Thought. Prof. Nachum Kedar, who engineered the long life cherry tomato. Prof. Ruth Lapidoth, winner of the Israel Prize for Law.