פֶּתַח, opening, door, gate. Keth. IV, 3 (ref. to Deut. XXII, 21) אין לה לא פ׳ בית האב וכ׳ if she (the faithless betrothed) has no paternal house door. Y. Sabb. VII, 9ᶜ top ניכר הוא … על פִּיתְחָהּ של תירה it can be seen that this man has never passed the gate of the Law (never studied). Koh. R. to III, 11 זה הפ׳ פתוח עד התהום this gate (verse used as introductory text, v. פָּתַח) opens to the deep, i.e. leads to deep reflection. Gen. R. s. 85 (ref. to פתח עינים, Gen. XXXVIII, 14) תלה עיניה בפ׳ שכל העינים וכ׳ she lifted up her eyes to the gate to which all eyes are directed (she prayed to the Lord). Gen. R. s. 38 פתח … פ׳ של תשובה the Lord opened to them the gate of repentance; a. fr.—Euphem. פ׳ פָּתוּחַ absence of virginity Keth. 9ᵇ טענת פ׳ פ׳, contrad. to טענת דמים, v. דָּם. Ib. 9ᵃ ופ׳ פ׳ כשני עדים דמי and the husband’s statement that lie found ‘the gate open’ is like a statement of two witnesses (to make her forbidden to him as a faithless betrothed); a. fr.—Trnsf. a) an opening for retracting a vow, a suggestion, v. פָּתַח. Gen. R. s. 91 למאה … מצא להם פ׳ for one hundred and fifty Nazarites he found causes for absolution; a. fr.—b) the starting time of menstruation. Arakh. II, 1 אין פ׳ בטועה וכ׳ for a woman that has lost the account of a prolonged flux, there is no new starting point within either less than seven or more than seventeen days. Ib. 8ᵃ פִּתְחָהּ שבעה עשר her sure starting point is after seventeen days; a. fr.—Pl. פְּתָחִים, פְּתָחִין. B. Bath. IX, 1 ישאלו על הפ׳ let them go begging at the doors; Keth. XIII, 3 יחזרו על הפ׳. Cant. R. to V, 2 פתחו לי פתח … ואני פותח לכם פ׳ וכ׳ make for me one opening for return as wide as the point of a needle, and I shall open for you gates through which wagons and coaches can pass; a. fr.—Ab. III, 18 פִּתְחֵי נדה the calculations concerning starting points of menstruants (v. supra).