Hebrew phrase

"Tom adam lemoto"
means exactly this (in Hebrew).
In Yiddish the last word could well be pronounced "lemoso" ot "Lemozo".

Rina

Beautiful Rina. Very nice analysis. And depending upon the Yiddish accent, the "o" might have been diphthongized to "ow".

Where is the phrase from?

Thank you, Rina & Hatte! Realizing that Hebrew was pronounced with this accent gives an insight into the times and the people.

I got this google 'translation' when entering the English: מוות הוא הסוף של גבר
Does it make any sense?

And, to echo Hatte's question: Where is the phrase from?

Judith

The Google translation is quite OK. The original phrase refers to a human being (=ADAM) rather than to a man. So far I have not been able to find where it's from. Maybe some prayer or the Talmud. Not sure. You may want to ask an orthodox Jew.
IInteresting: the "play" on the words TOM (end) and MOT (death). LE-MOTO=to his death.

Rina :-)

I might be wrong but seems inspired by or very similar to Proverbs 14:12

Loosely "There is a path before a man that seems right, but in the end even it ends in death"

Nice hypothesis but I looked up the bilingual version of Proverbs 14 and here's the Hebrew: יֵשׁ דֶּרֶךְ יָשָׁר, לִפְנֵי-אִישׁ; וְאַחֲרִיתָהּ, דַּרְכֵי-מָוֶת.

"there is a straight path before a man, but at the end of it are the paths/ways of death"

Thank you, wonderful Hatte, Rina, and Donald. The Proverbs source is what I'm going to go with. May I acknowledge you all (self-publishing w. Lulu.com)?