On Being a Mentsch

Last night, I had the pleasure of hearing Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski speak in my community. After a long and distinguished career in addictions work, Rabbi Dr. Twerski, author of 70 books in the self-help genre, recently made aliyah from Pittsburgh and now lives in Jerusalem. Last night, he spoke about the Jewish goal of being a mentsch.

 

Starting with the first day of Creation, God created everything all by himself. And yet, on the sixth day, there is a surprising twist. God says, “Na’aseh adam b’tzalmenu” – Let us make man in our image. Here’s the full verse.

 

And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and they shall rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heaven and over the animals and over all the earth and over all the creeping things that creep upon the earth." (Bereshit/Genesis 1:26)

 

The natural question is, who is God talking to here? Up until now, everything God created was 100% His original work. Whose participation is necessary for the creation of humans?

Rabbi Twerski said he was talking to Adam himself. Quoting an idea from the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chasidic thought, Rabbi Twerski said that everything God created up until human beings was created compete.

 

Plants and animals don’t work on self-improvement. Of course, plants and animals grow. But not volitionally. It’s all nature. Even the caterpillar that becomes a butterfly doesn’t aspire to become a butterfly. It’s the rules of nature which God put into the world that make a caterpillar undergo such a transformation.

 

Only human beings change themselves on purpose.

 

In God’s world, there are animals and there are angels. Animals are 100% physical. Angels are 100% spiritual. Humans lie in between these extremes. We are created part animal and part angel.  We are the only creation that can change ourselves, to move from the more physical existence of youth to the more spiritual existence of a self-actualized adult. According to Rabbi Twerski, “The ability to improve by our own efforts is a uniquely human feature.”

 

As an interesting aside, Rabbi Twerski mentioned that there is no natural word in Hebrew for the concept of fun. In modern Hebrew, we use the word kef, but this word is actually taken from Arabic. This is because, in Judaism, everything should be done with a purpose. Having fun for its own sake is not a Jewish value.

 

Which is not to say that Judaism requires people to be somber. Quite the opposite. Happiness is absolutely a Jewish value. In chapter 100 of Tehillim (Psalms) we are taught Ivdu et Hashem B’Simcha – serve God with happiness and joy.

Simcha, joy, is a spiritual value that serves to move us closer to Godliness. Purposeless fun, for its own sake, is not.

As we change ourselves into more spiritual beings, we begin to develop the quality of mentschlichkeit. We have compassion for others. We sacrifice for others. We do chesed for others.  We learn to overcome our own selfish desires, and suppress our natural selfish instincts, in order to do what’s right. We learn to give, learn to do chesed, learn to be kind.

 

According to Rabbi Twerski, “You were created to be a mentsch.” This is the answer to the question of whose participation is necessary for the creation of humans. The answer is that our participation is necessary.  Our goal as humans is to become a partner with God in creation. We do that by developing ourselves, as we progress from being controlled by our animal selves to evolving into the fullness of our spiritual selves.

That ability, to first desire and then to improve through our own efforts, is unique to humans. This ability to grow is what makes us mentschen.