Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik receives the Canterbury Medal, Becket’s highest honor Esteemed spiritual leader and scholar to be honored May 24 in New York

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik will be honored with the 2018 Canterbury Medal, religious liberty’s highest honor, at Becket’s annual black-tie Canterbury Medal Gala  Thursday May 24, 2018, 6 p.m. at the Pierre Hotel in New York. In 2013 he was named the spiritual leader of Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in the U.S. He is an esteemed scholar of Jewish theology, religious philosophy, and the American Founding, holding a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton, and serves as director of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. Soloveichik is an eloquent and ardent advocate for religious liberty for all faiths. He has worked alongside Catholic, LDS, and Muslim leaders to strengthen interfaith relations and to protect religious higher education.

Becket will also honor the law firm Baker Botts with the annual Legal Service Award for its indispensable pro bono work obtaining justice for members of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas after federal agents raided their powwow and confiscated their sacred eagle feathers.

The Canterbury Medal draws its name from one of history’s most dramatic religious liberty standoffs, which occurred between Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas à Becket, the law firm’s namesake, and King Henry II of England. Roger Hertog, president of the Hertog Foundation and chairman of the Tikvah Fund, and Dr. Josephine Templeton, trustee of the John Templeton Foundation, will serve as co-chairs of this year’s Canterbury Medal Gala.

What:
Becket’s Canterbury Medal Gala

Who:
Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, the 2018 Canterbury Medalist

When:
May 24, 2018 at 6:00 p.m.

Where:
The Pierre Hotel
2 E 61st St, New York, NY 10065

For more information or to arrange an interview with a Becket attorney, please contact Melinda Skea at media@becketlaw.org or 202-349-7224.