“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.
So, why not just call such people saints or angels? Because, as the stories below will demonstrate, these people have no such airs. They are people, like you, like us, who in the course of schedules no less hectic and demanding than our own, manage to reach out and help others, make the world a better place, day in and day out. They are doing what we all should, and what we all can do, despite the fact that most of us don’t. They are just people—menschen, to use the proper Yiddish plural—who understand the power and possibility of what just one person can do.
So, we are delighted to introduce you to The Journal’s second annual List of Top Ten L.A. Mensches. This year we’ve added a new category, as well: Honorary Mensch—A non-Jew whose work exemplifies this very Jewish notion. Thank you, Marilyn Harran.
And thank you to all our mensches. Maybe next year, we’ll all be candidates for the list….
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