Introduction: Meeting the "Anti-Mensch"
I was once told that the secret to a long life is to be a miserable person. Good people tragically die too soon. Miserable people seem to live forever.
In Judaism a good person is known as a mensch. Consequently, a miserable person can be described as the anti-mensch.
Meeting the anti-mensch can create a life-challenging moment in one’s life. It seems that the primary goal of the anti-mensch is to hurt us in any way they can. Reason does not work with the anti-mensch. They receive pleasure from our pain.
Unfortunately, the world is filled with the anti-mensch. Whether in our families, in our jobs or in our communities, we often meet the anti-mensch. We do our best to avoid them, but once they focus their attention upon us, it is too late.
Richard Harkavy