Becoming a Mensch - by Ronald Pies (Paperback)

About the Book

This 'user's guide' to becoming a better person takes readers through a process of personal growth by means of modern-day vignettes that draw upon the Talmud's ancient wisdom. Readers of any or no faith learn what it takes to become a 'mensch' -- a decent and honorable human being.

Book Synopsis

This 'user's guide' to becoming a better person takes readers through a process of personal growth by means of modern-day vignettes that draw upon the Talmud's ancient wisdom. Readers of any or no faith learn what it takes to become a 'mensch' -- a decent and honorable human being.

Review Quotes

...Pies is a brilliant scholar, a splendid writer, and a deeply thoughtful man. In Becoming a Mensch, he evinces thoughtfulness in two senses of the word: remarkable intellectual depth and sincere concern about the needs and rights of others. By creating modern-day vignettes that illustrate a wide variety of ethical issues, and by drawing on scores of Talmudic and rabbinical sources, Dr. Pies teaches readers of all faiths (and of no faith) what it takes to be not merely a human being, but a humane being.

...Wonderfully uplifting and practical guide to the cultivation of universal virtues such as kindness, generosity, and self-discipline...[Pies] adapts the ancient wisdom of the Talmudic rabbis [and]...shows himself a master teacher in interpreting the written and lived lessons of the great spiritual and ethical figures of the Jewish tradition in meaningful ways for readers of any or no religious background or commitment.

About the Author

Ronald Pies, M.D. is a professor of psychiatry and lecturer on bioethics and humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University and professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine. Pies is author of Everything Has Two Handles: The Stoic's Guide to the Art of Living (Hamilton Books), The Ethics of the Sages (Rowman & Littlefield), several psychiatry textbooks, a collection of short stories, Zimmerman's Tefillin, and a collection of poems, Creeping Thyme. He lives outside Boston and pursues independent studies in Judaic ethics.