לך לעזאזל
Hebrew
Etymology
Literally means "Go to Azazel!"; Azazel was a desolate place in ancient Israel where a goat was sent to die, to represent the destruction of people's sins. From the late Second Temple period, the name was associated with a fallen angel, like Satan. In the Talmud, Azazel was identified as a cliff.
The expression is first attested in the Lithuanian writer Abraham Mapu's 1858 novel Ayit Tzavua (see quote). Took hold, as inviting someone to go to hell/Satan is a common insult in European languages: compare Russian пошёл к чёрту (pošól k čórtu), Polish idź do diabła, German Fahr zur Hölle, English go to hell, etc.
Eventually, it birthed other expressions such as לעזאזל (la'azazél) and מַה לַּעֲזָאזֵל (ma la'azazél, “what the hell”).
Interjection
לֵךְ לַעֲזָאזֵל • (lekh la'azazél)
- (idiomatic, derogatory) go to hell, get lost
- 1858, Abraham Mapu, Ayit Tzavua[1]:
- גש הלאה פושק שפתים, ענהו הסוכן בלצון. ואלישבע אמרה! הלא פה מלון לבני ישראל, פה תמצא גם יושבי אהלים, ואחד מהם עלה הלום ויפתח פיו בחכמה, וארים לו נדבה ויברכני וילך; הבה אעשה כן גם לך, קח נא נדבה ולך בשם ה׳; ואם תרצה – לך לעזאזל. שמעה נא עמיל, הן אתה שכחת דת ודין, וזרח לא ידע ארחות חיים, לך אל זרח ועזרתם איש את אחיו, והייתם שניכם לנפש אחת. שמע לעצתי ולך מזה.
- “Go on, you pursed-lipped fellow,” the agent replied mockingly.
And Elisheva said: “Why, this place is an inn for the children of Israel. Here you will also find tent-dwellers, and one of them once came up here, opened his mouth with wisdom, and I raised a donation for him, blessed me, and went on his way. Let me do the same for you as well: take a donation, please, and go in the name of the Lord; and if you wish—go to hell.
Listen, Amil: you have forgotten religion and law, and Zerah does not know the paths of life. Go to Zerah, and help one another, each his fellow, and you shall both become one soul. Heed my counsel and leave this place.”
- “Go on, you pursed-lipped fellow,” the agent replied mockingly.
- 1868, Peretz Smolenskin, התועה בדרכי החיים (The stray in the ways of life)[2]:
- – אם כן איך מלאך לבך לדרוש לתעודתי אם לא שופט וגם לא אזרח הנך פה? השיבה לי תעודתי כרגע ואם אין אלך אל השופט ואשמיעהו כי תפריע מנוחת עוברי אורח באין משפט – הוא השיב לי את התעודה בקראו: לך לעזאזל יהודי ארור! – בפיק ברכים הלכתי אל הבית השני ואפתח את הדלת לראות אם בני הבית עודם עֵרִים.
- “If so, then how did you have the nerve to demand my papers, when you are neither a judge nor even a citizen here? Return my documents to me at once, and if not, I will go to the judge and inform him that you are disturbing the peace of passersby without authority.”
He returned the document to me, shouting: “Go to hell, damned Jew!”
With trembling knees I went to the second house and opened the door to see whether the members of the household were still awake.
- “If so, then how did you have the nerve to demand my papers, when you are neither a judge nor even a citizen here? Return my documents to me at once, and if not, I will go to the judge and inform him that you are disturbing the peace of passersby without authority.”
See also
- לַּעֲזָאזֵל (la'azazél, “to hell”)
- מַה לַּעֲזָאזֵל (ma la'azazél, “what the hell”)