JCPA’s Albert D. Chernin Award Recipients

The Albert D. Chernin Award is presented each year to an American Jew whose life work best exemplifies the social justice imperatives of Judaism, Jewish history, and the protection of the Bill of Rights, particularly the First Amendment. This award celebrates the achievements of its recipient, whose ideals symbolize the principles embodied by the work of JCPA. This award is named after Albert Chernin, Executive Vice Chair of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (now the Jewish Council for Public Affairs) from 1975-1990. Chernin’s leadership created a far-reaching impact on American policy in the areas of church-state, civil rights, immigration, Israel, and Soviet Jewry.

Past Recipients
1990     Albert D. Chernin
1991     Senator Howard Metzenbaum
1992     Al Vorspan, Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC)
1993     Arnold Aronson, founder, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
1994     Hyman Bookbinder, American Jewish Committee
1995     Jacqueline Levine, NJCRAC Past Chair
1996     Earl Raab, San Francisco JCRC
1997     Senator Carl Levin
1998     William Maslow, General Counsel of American Jewish Congress
1999     Leonard “Leibel” Fein, UAHC
2000     Theodore Mann, JCPA Past Chair
2001     Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat
2002     Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
2003     Rabbi David Saperstein, Union for Reform Judaism
2004     Dr. Alan Dershowitz
2005     Deborah E. Lipstadt, Emory University
2006     Ruth Messinger, American Jewish World Service
2007     Senator Frank Lautenberg
2008     Bernard “B” Rapoport, Bernard & Audre Rapoport Foundation
2009     Professor Laurence Tribe
2010      Professor Nadine Strossen
2011      Senator Ron Wyden
2012      Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, Union for Reform Judaism
2013      Judith Lichtman, National Partnership for Women and Familites
2014      Abraham Foxman, Anti-Defamation League
2015      David Luchins
2016      Senator Barbara Boxer
2017      Marcia Greenberger, National Women’s Law Center
2018      Floyd Abrams, Cahill Gordon & Reindel
2019      Nancy Kaufman, NCJW
2020      Nathan Lewin, Esq.