A humanitarian bids farewell

Sometimes, the passing of a friend silences a voice in your own mind. A voice you weren't even always aware of, but one that was just there, at the back, ready to remind you of what really, truly matters. 

This newsletter was supposed to be a list of great books to buy for Christmas, but that will have to wait.

Today is a day of remembrance - for me and for the many, many people who were touched and influenced by the life and words of Herbert Pundik, who passed away last night at the age of 92.

Herbert Pundik was for 23 years the editor-in-chief of Politiken, one of the largest Danish newspapers, a post he retired from years ago, but a paper he continued writing for his entire life, and one with which he has become - and forever will be - synonymous.

Herbert Pundik was also a close friend of my family, and he and his wife Sussi always felt like ‘home’. Theirs was, like mine, a family split between the warm skies and hot heads of the Middle East and the cool winds and quiet minds of the Danish shores. 

As a young Jewish man, Herbert Pundik was pulled from his high school class in Copenhagen and sent to Sweden during the German occupation of Denmark, and after the war, he fought (literally) for the establishment of the state of Israel and later struggled with the idea of Israel as an occupational power, fighting alongside his son and daughter for the rights of Palestinians.  

Herbert Pundik was one of those people about whom so many of us are privileged to have great stories and even greater memories. 

One day, almost 20 years ago, Herbert called me to suggest I join ‘Humanity in Action’, an organisation he had co-founded. Humanity in Action educates young people in the subject of human rights and protection of minorities, and is in many ways a reflection of all that Herbert found important: tolerance, understanding, curiosity, dialogue and action. He believed that what you do must matter - and human rights mattered greatly to the man who believed that ‘once a refugee, always a refugee'. 

It is so often only in retrospect that we realize how we have been influenced and by whom. Perhaps because the strongest influence often comes from those who are not even trying to exert it, but are merely sharing their passions, their beliefs and their values for you to pick up or ignore. 

These are the people who show the way, even when you didn’t think you were lost. People with such integrity that you can learn from them whether you agree or disagree. The Herbert Pundiks of the world stand out - in life and in memory - perhaps because there are so few of them.

Thank you, Herbert, for your curiosity, your courage and your un-wavering insistence on tolerance and humanity. Thank you for showing us all how easy the right choice is, no matter how hard it might seem.