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| The Ancient Hebrew Zodiac |
מַגִּ֤יד מֵֽרֵאשִׁית֙ אַחֲרִ֔ית וּמִקֶּ֖דֶם אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹא־נַֽעֲשׂ֑וּ אֹמֵר֙ עֲצָתִ֣י תָק֔וּם וְכׇל־חֶפְצִ֖י אֶעֱשֶֽׂה׃
I foretell the end from the beginning, And from the start, things that had not occurred. Isaiah 46.10
When a person finishes a chapter in their life and they are starting a new one (call this a milestone), it is customary for us to say "congratulations" and to wish them "good luck."
Maybe you have heard the common Hebrew Jewish expression "Mazel Tov" (Hebrew/Yiddish: מזל טוב). Mazal מַזָל is luck or fortune. Tov טוב is good. So Mazel Tov can be translated as either good luck or good fortune. However, when Jews say the expression we mean "congratulations." In fact, the Hebrew for congratulations is also Mazel Tov.
So in effect, mazel (or mazal) is addressing both the past and the future. This is a curiuos concept, so you might wonder about the origin of the word Mazel or Mazal.
They come from the Hebrew word Mazzaroth or Mazzārōṯ מַזָּרוֹת. This Biblical Hebrew word's literal translation is "constellations."
The similar word mazalot (מַּזָּלוֹת) appears in 2 Kings 23:3–5.
In pre-modern Hebrew, astrology was known as hokmat ha-mazalot (חוכמת המזלות), "the science of the constellations." The Hebrew name for the Zodiac is the Mazzaroth. In Kabbalistic (mystical Judaism) astrology is called mazal or mazalot and the Zodiac (destiny) is a system of astrology.
What could be more timeless than the heavens. They stretch back to the beginning of time and forward to the end of time. In a sense, all of time is in the Mazzaroth.
When I think of it this way, it makes sense that the expression "Mazel Tov" means both congratulations and good luck.
Let's look at an example of the timeless brilliance of the mazzaroth.
In Daniel 2:48 it says: "Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon."
In effect, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar elevated God's servant Daniel to the ranks of "The Great" in Babylon. He made Daniel a ruler, an official of great power over his kingdom. This promotion made Daniel the chief or lord over all the other wise men (Chakkiym in Aramaic) of Babylon. The wise men would come to be known as the "Magi" in the Christian bible.
There is so much more that could be said about the Magi. With no distinction between astrology and astronomy at the time, the Magi used early observations of the heavens to calculate positions of celestial bodies. Their uncanny ability to predict the movement of stars and planets across the sky, using the zodiac as their map, gave them credibility and elite status, and even the ability to interpret prophecy.
The identification of the Magi is linked to prophecies in the Hebrew Bible that describe the Messiah being worshipped by kings in Isaiah 60:3, Psalm 68:29, and Psalm 72:10, which reads, "Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations serve him."
As we finish Thanksgiving and start to look ahead to Christmas and Hanukkah, I'd like to say Mazel Tov to us all.
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| Judaica (Jewish Art) Hamsa |
Here is another popular Jewish expression, "Kaynahora." The three Hebrew words Kein Ayin Hara literally translate as “no evil eye.” The origin of the phrase is the ancient superstition that talking about one’s good fortune attracts the attention of the evil eye and spoil our plans. Think of this as the Jewish version of “knock on wood.”
When the patriarch Jacob blessed his grandchildren Ephraim and Menashe, part of his blessing was that “they should multiply like fish within the land” (Genesis 48:16). In the bible "multiplying" is synonymous with "blessing." The Jewish Sages tell us that Jacob wanted them to emulate fish when it came to multiplying because fish do so underwater where they believed one is shielded from view of the evil eye.
The concept of the evil eye is an ancient widespread belief around the world, and is thought to be associated with a human propensity towards envy. The destructive power of envy has lost none of it's relevance in our modern world.
Gratitude, giving thanks, serves us well for the past, present and future! Thanksgiving is the best protection against the evil eye of envy.
May we all learn to be thankful for what we have, happy for others, and be protected from the evil eye of envy.
THANKSGIVING 2022
Epilogue:
With Christmas coming up, and thoughts of the birth of Salvation (Yeshua), this video is intriguing.
