Peh (Hebrew Letter)

The letter PEH is equivalent to the number eighty in the Hebrew alphabet. It appears in two forms, bent and elongated. The elongated form of PEH is only used as the final letter of a word.

17peh

The letter PEH means ‘mouth’ in Hebrew. As symbolic of a mouth, the PEH represents the differentiating factor between humans and animals: the capacity for speech and self-expression.

The PEH alludes to the Oral law (Talmud) She Be’al PEH, and its significance in Judaism. The Oral Law was transmitted at the same time as the Torah, in the form of verbal teachings and explanations.

The letter PEH, being the seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, equals the word tov (numerically calculated to mean ‘good’).