|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mensch
Mensch, Yiddish word (מענטש, from German mensch, 'human being), means 'person of integrity and honour'. The opposite of a 'mensch' is an 'unmensch', meaning an utterly unlikeable or unfriendly person. According to Leo Rosten, the author of 'The Joys of Yiddish', mensch is someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being 'a real mensch' is is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous. In Yiddish, mensch roughly means "a good person". Although the word has migrated as a loanword into American English, the word is in fact a reborrowing from the native Middle English word, "menske", meaning "A person of integrity and honour". A mensch is a particularly good person, like "a stand-up guy", a person with the qualities one would hope for in a dear friend or trusted colleague. In modern Israeli Hebrew, the phrase Ben Adam, "Son of Adam" (בן אדם), is used as an exact translation of Mensch. |