In Yiddish, the verb plotz means to crack, burst, shatter, collapse, or explode. Its most common English usage is in reference to a person who is bursting with emotion, either negative of positive. Thus, when your boiler plotzes in the literal sense, you may plotz in the figurative sense.

But there is also plotzing to do something (like fix that boiler), plotzing from laughter (when you discover that insurance will cover the boiler), and plotzing to share good news (the boiler was never broken in the first place).

Plotzing to be Placed

Incidentally, the same word is also a noun, which means “place.” Although the words are identical in Yiddish (פלאץ), for whatever reason, English writers spell the exploding verb as plotz and the grounded noun as platz.

The sages teach us that it’s not the place (or platz) that defines the man, but the person who gives meaning and significance to his location. So if Divine providence sent you to a specific platz that may not be to your liking, don’t plotz. Instead, radiate so much goodness, warmth, and joy that the place begins to plotz from goodness.