11 Şubat 2013 Pazartesi

On the Expression "Mazal Tov"

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Having just congratulated a friend on the birth of a son, I suddenly became curious on the origin of the expression "Mazal Tov". A quick search in Google, found that the origin of the phrase is from Rashi who uses the expression on his commentary on Genesis 30:11

×™  ×•ַתֵּלֶד, ×–ִלְפָּ×” שִׁפְ×—ַת לֵ×�ָ×”--לְ×™ַ×¢ֲ×§ֹב בֵּן.10 And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a son.
×™×�  ×•ַתֹּ×�מֶר לֵ×�ָ×”, בגד (בָּ×� ×’ָד); וַתִּ×§ְרָ×� ×�ֶת-שְׁמוֹ, ×’ָּד.11 And Leah said: 'Fortune is come!' And she called his name Gad.


“Luck has come”: Heb. בָּ×� ×’ָּד. Good luck has come [Targum Jonathan ben Uzziel] similar to (Shab. 67b)“ May my fate be lucky (×’ָד ×’ַדִּ×™) and not fatigued,” and similar to this (Isa. 65:11), “who set a table for Gad.” According to the Aggadah [Midrash Aggadah in the name of“some say”], he was born circumcised ×’ָּד, meaning “cut off”), like Dan. 4:11,“cut down (×’ֹּדוּ) the tree,” .. ×‘×� גד: ×‘×� מזל טוב, כמו (שבת סז ב) גד גדי וסנוק ל×�, ודומה לו (ישעיה סה ×™×�) העורכי×� לגד שלחן. ומדרש ×�גדה שנולד מהול, כמו (דני×�ל ד ×›) גדו ×�ילנ×�..

The original meaning of the word Mazal - is a constellation of stars, which astrologists believed would influence your life.

See also this article [Hebrew] on how Sephradic (specifically Iraqi) communities would use "Mazal Tov" only for male children, and "Siman Tov" for females.

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