The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance warmly congratulates our faculty member, Professor Veronika Wolf Cohen, on being awarded the 2026 Ruth Rappaport Prize for Women Breaking Barriers in the category of “Lifetime Achievement.”
From the committee’s citation:
“In recognition of her pioneering and profound contribution to shaping the concept of music education in Israel; her integration over decades of research, creative work, and social commitment; and her commitment to placing creativity at the heart of education as a fundamental tool for developing thinking, identity, and self-expression among children, the prize committee has decided to award Professor Veronika Wolf Cohen the Ruth Rappaport Prize for Lifetime Achievement.”
Veronika’s life story is an inspiring journey that began in childhood in the Budapest Ghetto, continued with studies at leading institutions in the United States (Yale and Peabody), and reached its culmination in Israel, where she became a groundbreaking scholar who laid the foundations for qualitative research in music education.
The prize was awarded to Veronika for establishing creativity as a core component of education through her “Musical Mirrors” method, which fosters independent thinking in children and transforms them into active creators. Alongside her research, she has been recognized for making music accessible to diverse communities and for using it as a bridge for dialogue and partnership between Jews and Arabs—a vision realized in initiatives such as “Touching Music” and projects that strive for social equality through sound.
We take great pride in the fact that under her leadership, the Department of Music Education at the Academy has become one of the leading departments in Israel and worldwide. Today, the department is a hub of excellence, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees (including a thesis track) as well as teaching certificates, while generations of educators trained within it continue to shape Israel’s education system in the spirit of her vision.
Photo credit: Yifat Golan, for the Baruch and Ruth Rappaport Foundation
