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Join us in remembering Rabbi Bent Melchior, one of the founding members of Humanity in Action Denmark. He dedicated his life to civic engagement and has been a pillar of the Humanity in Action community. See below for a statement from Danish Board Members Anders Jerichow and Eva Maria Lassen.
Bent Melchior 1929-2021
It is with great sadness that we have learned about the passing of Bent Melchior, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community in Denmark from 1970 to 1996.
Humanity in Action has been privileged to have been supported by Bent Melchior from the very start of the organization. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the organization and just as he never seemed to belong to the Jewish Community only but to Danish society at large, within Humanity in Action, we always felt that he belonged to us in a special way.
Year after year, he accepted invitations to give talks at our conferences, seminars, and the annual Summer Academy, gathering young people from around the world to discuss democracy, minority rights, and human rights.
He gave us multiple reasons for evoking this feeling. He readily and year after year accepted invitations to give talks at our conferences, seminars, and the annual Summer Academy, gathering young people from around the world to discuss democracy, minority rights, and human rights. Whatever the setting, he quickly became the highlight of any event, captivating the audience with his takes on both current and historical events.
Not only was it difficult to find someone in Denmark more Jewish than him, it was also difficult to find someone more Danish. These two identities were bridged by Melchior’s deep felt sense of a common humanity. As such, Melchior spoke with great knowledge and humanity on all the topical issues at any given time: refugees, minorities living next to the majority, what it means to be a Dane, a Jew, and both.
The ability to see when it was a time for calm and pragmatism and when a time for warning and action was one of his most inspirational traits.
Melchior’s voice was often one of encouraging calm, reassuring the audience that by continuing the good work, our societies would be alright. But he also warned against certain trends in society, including Antisemitism and hate speech, and he defended the right of Jews and other religious minorities to uphold their traditions. The ability to see when it was a time for calm and pragmatism and when a time for warning and action was one of his most inspirational traits.
Melchior was also an inspiration for Humanity in Action because he demonstrated through his own life that you can always — and under all circumstances — make an effort to improve the world. To Melchior, individual responsibility to act and to speak out was central to civil society. As he advised others, he lived his own life.
The last time he visited Humanity in Action’s Summer Academy, he had difficulties walking and needed support to get to the podium. Even so, he had a very busy schedule and told us that the next day he was going to attend a charity football match with children at one of the Danish asylum centers. To our surprise, he was not going to the match as a spectator but as a player. And since he could not run, he had volunteered to be the goalkeeper!
To us, he personified humanity in action.
Anders Jerichow (chair) and Eva Maria Lassen (vice-chair), Humanity in Action Denmark
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See below for the original text in Danish.
Mindeord: Bent Melchior 1929-2021
Bent Melchior er død, erfarer vi med stor sorg i Humanity In Action.
Melchior var overrabbiner for det jødiske samfund i Danmark fra 1970 til 1996. Og både under og efter sin rabbinergerning var Melchior en inspirerende aktivist for mindretalsbeskyttelse og menneskerettigheder, ikke mindst for flygtninge.
Humanity in Action har været privilegeret af Bent Melchiors støtte lige fra starten af organisationens virke. Han var medlem af Humanity in Action’s repræsentantskab, og ligesom han aldrig kun syntes at tilhøre det jødiske samfund, men også hele det danske samfund, følte vi altid i Humanity in Action, at han tilhørte os på en særlig måde.
Han gav os flere grunde til denne følelse. År efter år tog han imod vores invitationer til at holde foredrag på Humanity in Action’s konferencer, seminarer og det årlige sommerakademi, der samler unge mennesker fra hele verden for at diskutere demokrati, mindretals rettigheder og menneskerettigheder. Uanset temaet og anledningen blev han hurtigt samlingspunkt for enhver begivenhed og fængslede publikum med sin fortolkning af såvel nuværende som historiske spørgsmål.
Ikke alene var det svært at finde nogen i Danmark, der var mere jødisk end Bent Melchior. Det var også svært at finde nogen mere dansk end han. De to sider blev kombineret af Melchiors dybe opfattelse af en fælles menneskehed. Som sådan talte Melchior med stor viden og medmenneskelighed om alle aktuelle spørgsmål til enhver tid: flygtninge, forholdet mellem mindretal og flertal, hvad det vil sige at være en dansker, en jøde og begge dele.
Bent Melchiors stemme var ofte opmuntrende rolig og forsikrede publikum om, at vores samfund nok skulle klare sig, hvis vi fortsætter det gode arbejde. Men han advarede i Humanity in Action også mod visse tendenser i samfundet, herunder antisemitisme og hadefuld tale, og han forsvarede jøders og andre religiøse mindretals ret til at opretholde deres traditioner. En sjælden evne til at se, hvornår det var tid til ro og pragmatisme, og hvornår det var tid til advarsel og handling var en af hans mest inspirerende træk.
Bent Melchior var også en inspiration for Humanity in Action, fordi han med sit helt eget liv demonstrerede, at man altid – og under alle omstændigheder – kan gøre en indsats for at forbedre verden. For Bent Melchior var det individuelle ansvar for at handle og tale i centrum for det civile samfund. Som han rådgav andre, levede han sit eget liv.
Sidste gang han besøgte Humanity in Action’s Sommerakademi, havde han svært ved at gå og havde brug for støtte for at komme op på podiet. Ikke desto mindre havde han en meget travl tidsplan og fortalte os, at han næste dag skulle deltage i en velgørenhedsfodboldkamp med børn på et af de danske asylcentre. Til vores overraskelse skulle han ikke til kampen som tilskuer, men som spiller. Og da han ikke kunne løbe, havde han meldt sig som målmand!
For os personificerede han medmenneskelighed i praksis.
Anders Jerichow og Eva Maria Lassen, formandskab i Humanity in Action, Danmark