Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg gifts $1M won for promoting 'Jewish values' to nine groups

Almost a year after he won a $1 million Israeli prize for promoting “Jewish values,” former Mayor Michael Bloomberg paid it forward Tuesday by regifting the money to nine do-gooder groups. Bloomberg took the money from his Genesis Prize — sometimes referred to as the “Jewish Nobel Prize” — and created the “Genesis Generation Challenge,” which rewards teams looking to address the world’s pressing issues. The diverse group of winners — who do not have to be Jewish — included a nonprofit looking to make an app that will monitor Lou Gehrig’s disease patients, a Kenyan green sanitation treatment plan, and an Israeli company developing a smartphone for people without use of their hands. They each receive $100,000 for their work. “The nature of the competition model isn’t guaranteed success,” Bloomberg said. “It’s to experiment.” Also at the ceremony was the 2015 Genesis Prize winner, actor Michael Douglas, who heaped praise on Bloomberg. “I think I am Michael Bloomberg’s biggest fan — as a mayor, as a philanthropist, he’s the best,” Douglas said.