Wex and Telushkin tell us about menshen and others

Fred Reiss, Ed.D

How to Be a Mentsh (& Not a Shmuck) by Michael Wex, HarperCollins, New York;  ISBN 978-0-06-177112-5 ©2009, $13.99, p. 178 plus notes and bibliography. 

Hillel: If Not Now, When? by Joseph Telushkin, Nextbook, New York, ISBN 978-0-553-8052-4281-2, ©2010, $24.00, p. 217 plus notes and bibliography.

By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.

WINCHESTER, California –Yiddish speakers are quite expressive. From them we get such Yiddish sayings as Ven dos mazel kumt, shtel im a shtu (If fortune calls, offer him a seat), or Di greste narishkayt fun a nar iz az er meynt az er is klug. (The greatest folly of the fool is that he thinks he is smart). Only from such a language could we get an entire book about two of its “richest” words: mentsh and shmuck. Michael Wex, author of How to Be a Mentsh (& Not a Shmuck) is a Canadian writer and translator, and Yiddish is his specialty.

For some, a schmuck  is the portion of the penis cut off during circumcision. The word now refers pejoratively to mean anything from stupid and silly to obnoxious and loathsome. Conversely, a mentsh is a worthy, dependable, and honorable person. Someone filled with integrity. Wex calls attention to the meanings of these words, as he moves the reader along a path characterized by midrashic and recognizably-American stories that meaningfully expose examples of mentshkite and schmuckiness.

Take Charlie Brown. Regardless of how often Lucy swears that she will hold the football so that Charlie Brown can kick it, she always lets it go at the last moment, and he lands flat on his back. Charlie Brown is a schmuck. He wants to kick the football so badly, that he doesn’t appreciate that he is being played a fool. Lucy is a schmuck, too, but she knows it. Unfortuately, Charlie Brown is in a worst position: he is a schmuck to a schmuck.

Wex calls the great Rabbi Akiba a schmuck, too. As the city of Jerusalem is being besieged by the Roman army under the command of General Vespasian around the year 70 CE, Rabbi Akiba feigns death and is carried out of the city in a coffin by his loyal students. The next day the rabbi appears before Vespasian and predicts that Vespasian will become the next Roman Emperor. In gratitude, Vespasian grants the rabbi a wish, so to speak. Instead of asking Vespasian to withdraw from the siege of Jerusalem, (which he might or might not have done) he asks for a small town, Yavne, in which to start a yeshiva.

To show the characteristics of mentshkite, Wex draws on the ethical tractate in the Mishna known as Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers). In Pirke Avot, for example, Rabbi Hillel is quoted as saying, “In a place where there are no men, you be the man.” For Wex, the terms men and man should be read mentshen and mentsh. From this aphorism, Wex adds self-sufficiency to the mentsh’s list of characteristics.

Wex presents an enjoyable and often humorous volume that actually might set a schmuck on the road to mentshkite.

There is no greater epitome of a mentsh in the Talmud than the aforementioned Rabbi Hillel. In addition, Hillel is arguably the best known rabbi of the Talmud. Yet very little is known about him, and what we do know is as much inferred as factual.

Hillel, who some say was from the Tribe of Benjamin and descended from King David on his mother’s side, was the scion of a wealthy family. He came to Jerusalem from Babylonia during the reigns of King Herod in Jerusalem and Emperor Augustus in Rome in order to gain a greater understanding in biblical exegesis. His family, about whom we know very little, refused to support him there. He became impoverished to the point that he could not attend classes at the yeshiva (Jewish academy) of Rabbis Sh’maya and Avtalyon. According to the Talmud (Yoma 35b), one cold winter’s night he had no money to pay the entrance fee, so he climbed to its roof to hear the scholars through the skylight. Snow began to fall during the night, which ultimately covered Hillel. As morning broke, the rabbis and students realized that something on the roof prevented light from entering the room. Sh’maya and Avtalyon went to the roof, saw Hillel, and brought him into the academy. It is said that as a result of this event, yeshivot (Jewish academies) no longer charged a fee for learning. Over time, other rabbis and academics recognized Hillel’s intellect and he rose to the rank of nasi, President of the Sanhedrin (Jewish court).

Because of the dearth of information about Hillel, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s worthy book, Hillel: If Not Now, When? is more of a character study than a biography. Hillel’s character traits manifest themselves in Talmudic stories about and quotes by Hillel. Anyone who has even a small amount of Jewish education knows the story of the proselyte who first came to Rabbi Shammai asking to be taught the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Shammai beat the proselyte and chased him away. The proselyte next went to Hillel and asked him the same question. Untroubled, Hillel replied, “What is hateful to thee, do not do unto your neighbor. The rest is commentary; now go and study it.”

Telushkin tells this and other anecdotists about Hillel’s interactions with acquaintances and unknown questioners, and hones in on the friendly quarrels between the Schools Hillel and Shammai about the proper way to interpret Jewish law. Telushkin also sets aside a portion of his book to provide modern-day lessons that can be derived from Hillel. Among these is an interpretation of Hillel’s aphorism, “If I am not for me, who will be for me. But, if I am for myself alone, what am I? If not now, when?” and an explication of a quote from Hillel that “One who does not increase his knowledge, decreases it.” Telushkin provides us with an excellent source of material about this most famous rabbi. In addition, he shows that Hillel is a mentsh, who remains an important role model even in our time.

Perhaps most important of all, Telushkin and Wex demonstrate that mentshen are what they are, to paraphrase the German philosopher Ernst Mach, not because they do what they do, but they do what they do, because they are what they are.

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Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of The Standard Guide to the Jewish and Civil CalendarsAncient Secrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and Reclaiming the Messiah. The author can be reached through his website, www.fredreissbooks.com.