\”It is hard to convey the special sense of respect, dignity and approbation that can be conveyed by calling someone \’a real mensch,\’\” writes Leo Rosten in \”The Joys of Yiddish.\” The Yiddish word infuses the basic German denotation — \”person\” — with an almost indefinable connotation. A mensch is a person who is upright, honorable, decent, as Rosten writes, a person to admire and emulate.