The word “mentschlichkeit” is a particularly triggering word for me, but in the best way possible. You see, I was the songwriter in camp (Torah Vodaath! Woohoo!), called into duty every Color War. I loved the gig.
I’m told, here and there, now and then, that some alumni sing my songs around their Shabbat or chag table, because the camp administration always made sure that the teams were themed to something Judaically relevant.
One of these songs was about kavod, or respect, and one particular lyric I wrote goes like this:
The way we must act throughout our lives.
Is with middos and mentschlichkeit.
Never ignore; Never reject.
Always show proper respect.
Thinking back, what I’m most proud of is that we somehow got all the campers to get all the complicated syllables correct so it sounded smooth. They sang it perfectly. Also, I managed to rhyme “lives” with “…keit.” I get two points for getting away with that.
Know what’s funny? I was going to get into a whole etymology about the word origin and definition, but I got nostalgic. As a famous comedian used to say when completing his act, “This isn’t the story I wanted to tell you.”
Here’s what I do want to tell you: buy my new book, The Dad Jokes Haggadah. That would be an act of mentschlichkeit.
