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Mazel Tov in the Broken Glass: Finding the Good Flow in Life’s Resistance and Spaces

by Ram ben Ze’ev


Mazel Tov in the Broken Glass: Finding the Good Flow in Life’s Resistance and Spaces
Mazel Tov in the Broken Glass: Finding the Good Flow in Life’s Resistance and Spaces

A glass slips from your hand, crashes to the floor, and shatters. In most cultures, the reaction would be a groan, perhaps even anger at the inconvenience. But in Jewish life, the room may erupt in a chorus of mazal tov (מזל טוב). For many, the phrase is loosely understood as “good fortune.” In truth, its meaning is far deeper — “good flow” — a blessing that the divine energy from HaShem continues to pour into our lives without interruption.


The word mazal (מזל) comes from nozel (נוזל), “to flow.” In the teachings of the Holy Zohar, mazal is the spiritual current from HaShem that sustains the universe at every moment. If that flow were to cease for even a second, creation itself would collapse. When we say mazal tov in response to a broken glass, we are not ignoring the loss — we are declaring that the flow remains good, even in this moment. It is a statement of emunah (faith) and bitachon (trust): “This, too, is from HaShem, and therefore it is good.”



Many years ago, my rabbi put it this way: Imagine being upset over a broken glass. In the Heavenly court, such frustration might invite a divine lesson — “You think that is bad? Let Me show you bad.” But if you respond with joy, the response changes: “You think this is good? Let Me show you what good really is.” The attitude we bring to small misfortunes opens the gates to greater blessing or, G-D forbid, greater trial.


This leads us to a deeper truth of creation — that we only become stronger through resistance. The Torah reveals that HaShem created all things with an opposite: good and evil, right and left, light and darkness, yetzer tov (יצר טוב — good inclination) and yetzer hara (יצר הרע — evil inclination). The Holy Zohar explains that without the yetzer hara, our service to HaShem would lack meaning. Just as a muscle only grows when it pushes against weight, the soul grows only when it pushes against temptation.


This means that when temptation arises, we should not meet it with despair or resentment, but with the joy of an athlete stepping into the arena — knowing this is our opportunity to grow. Each struggle is a chance to strengthen our trust in HaShem, deepen our faith, and return to His will through teshuvah (תשובה — return).


But there is another dimension, one the mystics describe when they speak of the Torah scroll itself. The letters are holy — but so are the spaces between them. Those spaces are not meaningless emptiness; they are the silent pauses in the divine speech, holding potential and mystery. In life, the visible blessings are the “letters” — health, provision, peace. The setbacks, pauses, and apparent voids are the “spaces.” And just as a scroll cannot be read without both letters and spaces, our lives cannot tell their full story without both the revealed good and the concealed good.



A broken glass is a “space moment.” Resistance from the yetzer hara is a “space moment.” Times when the flow seems hidden are not interruptions — they are the other half of the story. They are the concealed currents in the river of divine flow, waiting for us to uncover them with joy, trust, and return.


So the next time something breaks, slips away, or resists your effort, try this: smile, lift your voice, and say mazal tov. In that moment, you declare that the flow from HaShem has not stopped — and in doing so, you open yourself to receive even more of it. The broken glass may be on the floor, but the vessel of your heart remains whole, ready to be filled.


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