Mensch

Template:Use dmy dates Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} As borrowed from Yiddish, a {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Efn is "a person of integrity and honor".<ref>"mensch". Merriam-Webster.</ref> American humorist Leo Rosten describes a {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} as "someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being 'a real mensch' is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The term is used as a high compliment, implying the rarity and value of that individual's qualities.

Overview

In Yiddish, mentsh roughly means "a good person".<ref name="newsday1">"Israel's Mensch on the Bench mascot at World Baseball Classic". Newsday.</ref> The word has migrated as a loanword into American English, in the original German spelling, with a mensch being a particularly good person, similar to a "stand-up guy", a person with the qualities one would hope for in a friend or trusted colleague.<ref>Modern Philology</ref> Mentshlekhkeyt (Template:Langx; Template:Langx) refers to the properties which make a person a mensch.

During the Age of Enlightenment, in Germany the term {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, in the philosophical sense of compassion, was used in Humanism to describe what characterizes a better human being. The concept goes back to Cicero's humanitas, which was literally translated as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in German, from which the Yiddish word mentsh derives.Template:Cn

The word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and the underlying concept have had an impact on popular culture. The Mensch on a Bench is a 2012 Hanukkah-themed book and doll set parodying The Elf on the Shelf. A life-size version of the doll was adopted as the mascot of Team Israel at the World Baseball Classic in 2016. According to pitcher Gabe Cramer, "The Mensch is a great way to have fun in the dugout while reminding us of why we're here and who we're representing".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

See also

• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
• Moral idealist
• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
• The Mensch on a Bench
• Jewish etiquette