Tehilim Perek 119: Letter Pei
Hello everybody, I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. In today’s Nach Daily we’ll be discussing the letter PEI.
The letter Pei represents Pesicha, opening, Pesach, an entrance way, and superficial externalities.
The mouth is called the Peh after the letter Pei because the mouth opens. Your mouth is what allows you to eat and nourish the body. Without it you wouldn’t be able to communicate your thoughts and desires. The Pei therefore represents the faculty of speech which comes through the mouth. The ability to bring your penimiyus to the chitzoniyus, inner self to the outer self,” is essentially self-actualization.
The first time that the Pei is used in the Torah is when it says “v’ruach Elokim mirachePhes al Pnai hamayim,” and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water. Pei here is used to describe the surface, the outer part, of the water.
When contrasting the letter Pei to the letter Beis, we see that the Beis represents the penimiyus, internality, or inside of a house while the Pei represents the external, front of the house.
Look at the letter Pei written as in a Sefer Torah, and stare at the negative space within the letter itself. The letter Beis will emerge! It is actually contained in the negative space of the Pei because the Pei represents externality while the Beis represents internality.
To go a step deeper: We know that everything in this word can be used to serve Hashem. Anything physical, like a table or a car that is used for Mitzvos , becomes a vehicle to serve Him. As the whole point of chitzonyus is to reveal the penimyus, the whole point of all our physical possessions is to use them to serve God. The Pei points towards the letter Beis in the negative space to teach us not to get stuck on the physical trappings of this world, but to use them to reveal the Divine hidden behind them.
The Pei is shaped like a mouth with a tooth hanging down from it because the Pei is synonymous with the Peh, mouth.
The Pei is comprised of two letters, a Chuf and an upside down Yud. In previous classes we said that the Chuf represents bending in order to form something while Yud represents creating. The act of speaking is giving form to words by shaping and articulating sounds. This is represented by the Chuf-Yud combination which forms the Pei.
Numerically, Pei equals 80, which represents gevurah, strength. In Tehilim 90:10 we’re told that the days of our lives are seventy years, “v’im b’gevoros shmonim shanah, and if strong, 80 years. Pirkei Avos says “ben shmonim le’gevurah, an 80 year old has strength.” Obviously this isn’t referring to physical strength, but the ability to live to conquer our Yetzer Harah. This requires guarding our mouths, represented by the Pei.
There are two Pei’s, a regular Pei called Pei Kafufa, and a Pei Sofit, known as the Pei Pashuta. They ttell us that there’s a time for us to pay attention and not speak, as well as a time to open our mouths and speak what we know.
The Pei Sofit, the Pei Pashuta, also represents the times of Mashiach. When Mashiach will reveal himself to the world, the Yetzer Hara will be completely nullified. This will cause people to “straighten out” and guard their mouths, only speaking words of chochma, wisdom.
May we merit the times of the final redemption, when the world will be wide open to accepting God as the King of the cosmos.
In the next episode of Nachdaily, we’ll be moving on to the righteous Tzaddik.
Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.
