What It Means To Be a Mensch

“And now, O Israel, what does the Eternal your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the Eternal your God, to walk only in divine paths, to love and to serve the Eternal your God with all your heart and soul, keeping the Eternal’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good” (Deut. 10:12-13).

During the summer I work as the Jewish Educator at an overnight camp. This summer I have been teaching our core values through an escape room activity that uses the Holiness Code (Lev. 19) to solve puzzles and unlock a secret box. When the activity is over, we discuss that one of the ways we show we are created in God’s image is to be good people, to treat others with kindness, empathy, and respect, and to live in and way that would make God proud.

I conclude by asking the campers for the Jewish word for a “good person.” Then I explain that the literal meaning of the word, “mensch,” is simply a “man,” which we can describe more broadly as, “a person.” I ask why the word for a good person in Judaism is just person. We talk about the fact that to be a person, to be a human being, means to treat others with kindness, empathy, and respect, and to live in a way that would make God proud. And, as one thoughtful camper pointed out, every person has the capacity to be good, we just have to choose to do so.

In remarking on Deut. 10:13 above, many commentators, including Rashi and Nachmanides, point out that God is not asking for reverence and love, or for us to follow the divine path for God’s sake, but rather for our own. It is for our good. It is not something God needs, but something we need.

This week’s Torah portion, Eikev, is difficult for many as it intimates that those who follow God’s commandments will be rewarded and those who do not will be punished. We all live with the reality that sometimes good people suffer, while some who are unkind and unsavory not only move through life unscathed, but even prosper. We don’t have control over everything, but we do have control over some things, and by choosing to love and revere God, by choosing to be a good person, we take control over what we can, and we make our lives better. It is for our good.

“The Maggid of Mezeritz said: ‘Our good deeds go up to God. Do you know what God does with them? God is a gardener, using our good deeds as seeds. God plants them in the Garden of Eden, and out of them, trees grow. Thus we each create our own Paradise…’ ”¹

For our own good, may we plant many seeds creating a beautiful Paradise of which we can be proud.

1. Rabbi Chaim Stern, ed., Day by Day – Reflections on the Themes of the Torah from Literature, Philosophy, and Religious Thought (NY: CCAR Press, 1998), p. 309

Rabbi Shoshana Nyer, RJE, is the director of lifelong learning at Suburban Temple – Kol Ami in Beachwood, OH. During the summer, she is the Jewish educator at Camp Wise in Chardon, OH.