Starts Tomorrow: Mensch•Marks for the New Year
A daily dose of ethical guidance to keep us grounded in an untethered year.
Beginning tomorrow, Wed. Sept. 4, which corresponds to the first day of Elul, the final month of the Jewish year, I’ll be sending out daily bits of ethical wisdom, designed to aid in preparations for the new year. Each of these “Mensch•Marks,” as I call them, these benchmarks of menschiness, will be enhanced with bite-size essays, stories and anecdotes from various sources, including my own experiences, some of which were shared in my book, Mensch·Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi - Wisdom for Untethered Times.
The Talmudic tractate Avot, 6:6 provides a roadmap as to how to live an ethical life. This passage includes 48 middot (measures) through which we can “acquire Torah.” See the full list here. For the next 48 days, running from the first of Elul through Yom Kippur and beyond, I’ll be highlighting one of these middot, in order to assist each of us in the process of soul searching (“heshbon ha-nefesh”).
All of religion can be distilled down to the question of how to be a good person. You can find a version of the Golden Rule in almost every living faith; but for Jews, especially, being a mensch is at the core of an authentic Jewish life.
One isn’t born a mensch. Nor is it a status that one ever completely achieves; for to boast that you are mensch is, by definition, not to possess the requisite humility to be one. Becoming a mensch is a life-long process, a journey, an aspiration.
Although the word mensch means “man” in German, the Yiddish word is not gender specific, nor does it correlate to what might be considered “macho” qualities. Quite the contrary, in fact, To be a mensch, only kindness matters.
Leo Rosten defines mensch as, “someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being “a real mensch” is rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous.”
Any wisdom I share is not from a pulpit on high, but rather from an unfolding story of a fellow traveler, one who has stumbled, failed and persevered, struggling with the questions large and small, and through it all has tried to live with dignity and grace.
And there is a tie-in to this election season. While being a mensch should certainly involve a desire for consensus building and peace, the authentic mensch also is compelled to take a stand when the hour of decision is at hand. These Mensch•Marks will not shy away from that obligation.
See my article, Rabbi’s Moment of Truth is Truth, which discusses this very thing.
I hope you will share these bits of wisdom with your family and friends. I invite them to subscribe to my Substack so they won’t miss a single one!
Warm wishes for a year of personal growth and peace.