Michael Melchior

Melchior is a recipient of The Norwegian Award For Tolerance & Bridge Building in the Nobel Institute (1988), The Church Of England's Coventry International Prize For Peace & Reconciliation (2002), and the Liebhaber Prize For The Promotion Of Religious Tolerance And Cultural Pluralism (2007). On January 26, 2016, Rabbi Melchior was awarded The FRRME (Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East) Annual Peace Prize for 2015 at the House of Lords in London.

In 2014, he, along with Hadassah Froman of Tekoa and Yoel Bin Nun of Alon Shvut, participated at the Gush Etzion mourning where a kidnapping of three yeshiva students took place on June 12, 2014, who were found dead on June 30, 2014, and are believed to have been killed shortly after being kidnapped.

More controversially, in September 2012, Melchior claimed that extremist Islamic leaders, including the leaders of Hamas, are ready for peaceful co-existence with Israel, and he added that he has "yet to meet with somebody who is not willing to make peace" with the Jewish state of Israel, placing the onus for lack of peace with extremist Islamic movements on Israel.

In 2010, Melchior involved himself in economic issues. He co-founded the Israel Civic Action Forum which promotes higher taxation on income from the extraction of natural resources, and the use of the tax income for higher government spending to increase government spending on welfare, education, and health.

In 2002, Melchior established Meitarim - a network of pluralistic Jewish schools in Israel where religious and secular students can grow up and learn together in kindergartens, schools, pre- and post-military institutions in a non-coercive approach, enabling multi interpretations and expressions of Jewish heritage in order to take responsibility for a common Jewish heritage and vision.

In 2002, Melchior initiated, together with his Palestinian counterpart Sheikh Talal Sider, an inter-religious summit in Alexandria, Egypt, co-sponsored by the Mufti of Egypt, Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, and Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar University, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi; Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey; and Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, Israel's Chief Rabbi. The summit, which launched The Alexandria Process, brought together religious leaders from the Middle-East to adopt common principles aimed at preventing the region's religious sensibilities being exploited during conflicts, and declaring the need to work together towards peaceful solutions of the conflicts. Together with Elie Wiesel, Melchior established the Mosaica Center for Interreligious Cooperation – MERPI (Middle East Religious Peace Initiative) to "lead to the implementation" of the principles of the Alexandria Declaration. Melchior is also a member of the Elijah Interfaith Institute Board of World Religious Leaders.

In the 1999 elections, Meimad ran as part of the One Israel alliance with the Labor Party and Gesher. Melchior won a seat, and was appointed Minister of Social and Diaspora Affairs on 5 August 1999, a post he held until Ariel Sharon became Prime Minister in 2001. Melchior was re-elected to the Knesset as a member of the joint list in 2003 and 2006, as Meimad continued its alliance with the Labor Party. In 2008, Meimad broke away from the alliance, and ran in partnership with the Green Movement in the 2009 elections, but failed to win a seat. On December 14, 2012, on his Facebook page, he said that he will quit Knesset elections.

Melchior entered politics with the Meimad party in 1995. When Rabbi Yehuda Amital was appointed minister without portfolio after the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995, Melchior served as Amital's assistant. Melchior was selected chairman of the managing committee of the Meimad party in early 1996.

In 1986, he immigrated to Israel, and settled down with his family in Jerusalem, while still holding the honorary title of Chief Rabbi of Norway.

Michael Melchior (Hebrew: מיכאל מלכיאור ; born January 31, 1954) is a Jewish leader, Orthodox rabbi, thinker, and activist. He is a former Minister of Social and Diaspora Affairs, a former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a former member of Knesset for Meimad. He is the Rabbi of a vibrant community in Talpiyot, Jerusalem (Beit Boyer), while still holding the title of the Chief Rabbi of Norway.

A descendant of seven generations of rabbis in Denmark, Melchior was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1954. His grandfather, Marcus Melchior, helped orchestrate the escape of over 7200 Danish Jews during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, and served and the country's chief rabbi until his death in 1969. Michael was ordained as an Orthodox Rabbi at Yeshivat Hakotel of Jerusalem in 1980. Soon afterwards, he returned to Scandinavia to serve as Chief Rabbi of Norway.