5. Eliezer Papo

Tamar Alexander - Eliezer Papo ON THE POWER OF THE WORD
of the woman, and negatively, the woman as temptress. In numerology the letters
of devaš (honey) are equal to the letters of iša (woman). If the honey is chosen
for dealing with fear, that not only attests to its healing qualities but is interwoven
compatibly with the world of the Sephardic prikantes, which is, as noted, a feminine
world. 102 The recitation of the text is accompanied by the act of smearing
with honey. Precise instructions are given regarding the amount of honey (three
fingers), the finger with which to smear (the middle finger), and the locations on
the body (mouth, forehead, ear, throat, heart, palms and feet).
The link to the magical ceremony is framed in the opening and closing
rows. Similarly, this formulation incorporates the Hebrew word c uf, which is repeated
three times in the imperative at the beginning and at the end. The very use
of a word in Hebrew, which is considered the holy tongue and the language of the
group elite, 103 grants the formula additional validity. Beside the literal meaning of
the word c uf, that is, be gone, there is an onomatopoeic connotation of calling for
driving away and expulsion. Likewise, in Sephardic tradition there is a special
significance in the morpheme fe at the end of the word. Ribbi Eliezer ben Isak
Papo writes:
Since the letter final f occurs in the name of the destructive angels,
such as: af, za c af, šeṣef, keṣef, negef, rešef-you will not find a final f
in any prayer except in musaf (the additional prayer on Sabbaths and
holidays), since you have no choice but to say et musaf yom peloni
(the additional prayer of day X). (And for this reason there is no final
fe in the Grace After Meals. And therefore one must take care with the
text of Reṣe we-haḥaliṣenu (May it be G-d’s will to strengthen; recited
on the Sabbath) not to say We-af c al pi še-aḫalnu we-šatinu (and even
though we ate and drank) but We-gam še-aḫalnu we-šatinu (and we
also ate and drank). 104
That is, in a place where no harmful agents are found, they should not be
invited by pronouncing words that contain a final fe. But in a place where they
are already located, the very identification of them by their name (or, at least, by
a letter typical of their names) grants the male or female healer magical power
and control over them. 105
102 See n. 94 above, 90–92.
103 See S. Morag, “Hebrew Elements in Jewish languages – Some General Aspects” [Hebrew],
Mi-Qedem u-mi-Yam, 5 (1992), 59-66.
104 E. I. Papo, Ya c alezu Ḥasidim (see n. 2 above), p. 361.
105 For example, in Jewish culture only the identification of the dibbuq by name allows
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