Literally: Bad luck
Idiomatically: Unlucky

"Bish" comes from the Aramaic word, "Bisha," meaning bad (Sanhedrin 108a; Baba Kama 99b). Someone who has bad luck would be called a "bishgad," also from the Aramaic "Bisgada." I have brother-in-law who always seems to make the wrong decisions at the right time. He went into the stock market in the fall of 2000. He tried to convince me that Kmart was the greatest thing since Enron. Since he was short at the time, he even borrowed money from a guy named Vinny. In short, he was "bish mazal" with his "Esek Bish" (bad deal). The last time I heard from him he was in Caracas.

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