Thanks for dropping in. It’s a big internet with lots of sites. We’re glad you found ours. What you’re going to find here is a whole lot of different content for dads. To be specific: Jewish dads. But, like, why?
Menschite is for those of us who light the candles on Shabbat, who parade on Simchat Torah, who sweat it out during our kids b’nei mitzvah, who lift the chair during the hora, and who may or may not know the reasons why we do these things. Well, we actually do. We don’t want to break the chains that link our generation to the ones before us and the ones ahead of us. We are a new generation of Jewish dads. We’re writing new rules and re-writing some old ones for lots of different reasons.
About that name. Menschite. We strive to be mensches. Good guys. Reliable guys. Doing-the-right-thing and being-role-models-for-our-kids guys. Yet sometimes it’s schite. Ya know, schite, like when we struggle to do the right thing, or the right thing doesn’t feel like the right thing. We get blinded by anger and yell. We love food that is terrible for us, and do not treat our bodies well. There are lots of levels to the schite that dads deal with.
We believe in being the best possible dads that we can be. And sometimes we need help. Lot’s of help. I’ll speak for myself for a minute. I thought that being a dad would be easy and fun. I’ve been working with kids for years. I’m generally upbeat and fun. I think. I used to be. I still am sometimes.
As I enter my ninth year of parenting I can say that it is nothing like what I thought it would be. It’s hard work. Emotionally, mentally, physically draining work. But I’ve learned. I’ve learned to pick my battles. I’ve learned to be wrong. I’ve learned that bedtime generally sucks and doing anything one-on-one with your kid when there are no time restraints is the best. I’m also well aware of the insane and never-ending amount of work that goes into keeping the house borderline neat.
All of the contributors on this website are dads. We are diaper changin’, dinner makin’, carpool drivin’, bath givin’, sometimes d’var Torah givin’, support needin’ dad’s on the front lines of dadding. We love music, sports, technology, and we all feel that Judaism is an important part of our lives. What can you expect from Menschite? You can expect to laugh, think, feel, and know that there are others out there in the great big world just like you.
Thanks for checking us out,
Michael Mason
Founder / Publisher / Chief Modern Jewish Dad (ex officio)