My daughter’s teacher recently asked what it means to be an observant Jew. A debate arose with answers ranging from acts of mitzvot to mentschlichkeit. What emerged from the discussion was that while both are important, they don’t always go hand in hand.
A few days later, the same daughter was on a bus returning home from helping a child with special needs when she was surrounded by young ultra-Orthodox boys who taunted her for owning a smartphone. At one point, the nonreligious driver pulled over demanding the kids get off the bus, teaching them a lesson in the importance of mentschluckeit while giving my daughter food for thought about the question her teacher had posed.
I was reminded of this tonight, when I answered my phone and found myself speaking to a secular police officer who informed me that someone had found my daughter’s wallet with all of its contents untouched. It was the third time since our aliyah four years ago when expensive items were returned by good-hearted Israelis who spent a considerable amount of time searching for us in order to perform the act of hashavat aveidah. Not because they were religious – because in all three cases they were not – but out of duty of mentschlichkeit.
Living in Israel has provided me many eye-opening experiences to see that mentschlichkeit isn’t something unique to the frum world, or in my experience, even the Jewish world and is sometimes even missing in some aspects of the Torah world. And it’s an important reminder to remind us religious Jews to ensure that our level of mentschlichkeit is always as rigorous as our mitzvah observance.
