פִּתְחָא, Targ. Ez. XL, 38. Targ. I Chr. XVII, 25 פ׳ דפומא opening of the mouth, courage to speak; a. fr.—Snh. 110ᵃ (ref. to Num. XVI, 30) לקרובי פ׳ the creation consisted only in bringing the gate (of Gehenna) nearer.—Meg. 10ᵇ, sq., פתח לה פ׳ להאי וכ׳ took his opening text for this (Purim) lesson from here. Ex. R. s. 1 פתחין פ׳ להאי קרא took as text the following verse; a. fr.—Ned. 22ᵇ פתח פ׳ לנפשיה offered himself a reason for absolution from his vow.