lech l'azazel

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Definitions

  • interj. Go to hell; get lost.

Example Sentences

  • "Hey, you're that guy who cut me off at the last light! Lech l'azazel!"

  • "Lois, here's that guy again who was pestering us. Hey you, lech la-azazel!" (Glinert)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Modern Hebrew

Etymology

  • לך לעזאזל lekh l'azazel 'go to Azazel'

      • Who Uses This

      • Israel: Diaspora Jews who feel connected to Israel and have spent time there

      Regions

      • North America

      Dictionaries

      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).

      Alternative Spellings

      leh l'azazel, lekh la'azazel, lech l'azazel

Notes

  • "In Jewish legends, a demon or evil spirit to whom, in the ancient rite of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), a scapegoat was sent bearing the sins of the Jewish people. Two male goats were chosen for the ritual, one designated by lots “for the Lord,” the other “for Azazel” (Leviticus 16:8) . . . After the high priest symbolically transferred all the sins of the Jewish people to the scapegoat, the goat destined “for Azazel” was driven into the wilderness . . . Azazel was the personification of uncleanness and in later rabbinic writings was sometimes described as a fallen angel." (Britannica)

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