How to Be a Mensch
Growing up can sometimes get complicated. This book’s full of funny and useful tips to help you get it right!
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What the Book Is About
Jewish Content & Values
Positive Role Models
Content Advisory
Talk It Over
More for You
What the Book Is About
This how-to manual is a version of Catherine Newman’s book How to Be a Person, with Jewish content specially created for a unique PJ Our Way edition. Chapters cover life skills like how to care for people, pets, and plants; how to cook for Shabbat; how to clean your clothes; and how to manage money. Cartoon-style illustrations add to the accessible, kid-friendly style.
Jewish Content & Values
- Reference is made to the Jewish values of respecting elders, caring for animals, welcoming guests (hachnasat orchim), caring for the sick (bikur cholim), and gratitude (hakarat hatov).
- The section on cleaning the house talks about cleaning and finishing homework before Shabbat and having a tech break over Shabbat. The section on cooking talks about the Shabbat prayers (brachot) and common menus for a Shabbat meal. It also gives a recipe for challah French toast and instructions on how to braid challah.
Positive Role Models
You! After reading this book, you’ll be well on the way to becoming your best self: a real mensch!
Content Advisory
None.
Talk It Over
The section called "How to Include Someone" talks about what to do when someone is alone or excluded for being new or different. Do you know someone who has been left out socially? Did you try to include them? If so, what did you do? If not, what could you have done differently?
More for You
In Uriel Weinreich’s seminal Modern Yiddish-English/English-Yiddish dictionary, the word “mensch”, which derives from German, is defined as “man; human being; person; responsible/mature person,” but it’s more often used to refer to personal qualities of compassion, integrity, honor, and humility. Though for many years the Yiddish word was used only in reference to boys and men, German bibles from the 1500s use it in relation to women too. The PJ Library book Estie the Mensch features a girl protagonist, and in North America the use of “mensch” increasingly covers all genders.
What the Book Is About
What the Book Is About
This how-to manual is a version of Catherine Newman’s book How to Be a Person, with Jewish content specially created for a unique PJ Our Way edition. Chapters cover life skills like how to care for people, pets, and plants; how to cook for Shabbat; how to clean your clothes; and how to manage money. Cartoon-style illustrations add to the accessible, kid-friendly style.
Jewish Content & Values
Jewish Content & Values
- Reference is made to the Jewish values of respecting elders, caring for animals, welcoming guests (hachnasat orchim), caring for the sick (bikur cholim), and gratitude (hakarat hatov).
- The section on cleaning the house talks about cleaning and finishing homework before Shabbat and having a tech break over Shabbat. The section on cooking talks about the Shabbat prayers (brachot) and common menus for a Shabbat meal. It also gives a recipe for challah French toast and instructions on how to braid challah.
Positive Role Models
Positive Role Models
You! After reading this book, you’ll be well on the way to becoming your best self: a real mensch!
Content Advisory
Content Advisory
None.
Talk It Over
Talk It Over
The section called "How to Include Someone" talks about what to do when someone is alone or excluded for being new or different. Do you know someone who has been left out socially? Did you try to include them? If so, what did you do? If not, what could you have done differently?
More for You
More for You
In Uriel Weinreich’s seminal Modern Yiddish-English/English-Yiddish dictionary, the word “mensch”, which derives from German, is defined as “man; human being; person; responsible/mature person,” but it’s more often used to refer to personal qualities of compassion, integrity, honor, and humility. Though for many years the Yiddish word was used only in reference to boys and men, German bibles from the 1500s use it in relation to women too. The PJ Library book Estie the Mensch features a girl protagonist, and in North America the use of “mensch” increasingly covers all genders.
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