Rachmanas - Have Mercy
As you have probably seen in past email messages, I like picking apart and understanding Hebrew words. It is a fulfilling way of delving deeper into Jewish thought and values. But, sometimes, even Hebrew will not do the trick. This week, as we have watched the dismantling of so many American safeguards, is one of those times. Hebrew will not do the trick. It’s time to bring out the big guns: Yiddish.
I'd venture to say that no language has more creative curses and insults than Yiddish.
"May all of your teeth rot out of your mouth except one, so you should have a toothache."
“May you be as healthy and tough as iron, so much so that you can’t bend over.”
And perhaps minted for this week: “Klug zu Columbus! Damn Columbus." Think immigrant peddler, expressing exasperation with this land of opportunity.
But it’s not just the negative and ironic that Yiddish captures so well. It’s also the positive and significant. Let me digress for a moment, then explain.
Like so many Americans this week, I was moved, awed, and ever so thankful for Bishop Mariann Budde, who spoke at a national prayer service on the day after the inauguration. With courage and dignity, She said the words that needed to be spoken, directly to the new president: “I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country. And we're scared now.” She spoke eloquently and humbly about the LGBTQ community and immigrants.
I was struck by the word “mercy.”
From the Oxford American dictionary, mercy: “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.”
Yiddish has its own word for mercy: Rachmanas. It is an important and key concept in Jewish thought and culture. Rachmanas means empathy, compassion, understanding.
It's a grandmother saying to a child, “Have rachmanas on your brother. He’s just a little tot.”
It’s a rabbi teaching “The world survives not on power, but on rachmanas and kindness."
It’s an activist saying, “"True rachmanas is not just feeling bad for someone; it's doing something about it."
In “The Joys of Yiddish,” Leo Rosten wrote, “This quintessential word lies at the heart of Jewish thought and feeling. All of Judaism’s philosophy, ethics, ethos, learning, education, and hierarchy of values are saturated with a sense of, and heightened sensitivity to, rakhmones.”
The root of rachmanas comes from the Hebrew word for “womb.” Rachmanas is our first home. Rachmanas is a parent’s love for a child. Rachmanas is foundational.
We have a tough four years ahead of us. A lot of things will feel out of our control. And many, unfortunately, will be. But one thing that can’t be taken away, even by executive order, is our rachmanas. We can treat each other with kindness, understanding, and forgiveness. We can put ourselves in each other’s shoes. We can watch out for each other’s backs. Rachmanas plus a bit courage and a lot of fortitude will get us through.
So next time, you’re compelled to mutter “oy vey” (or something worse) at the newspaper or computer screen or television, remember “rachmanas.” Stand up. Speak out. And do so with compassion.
