Question of the Week:
I am hoping you can explain something about my grandmother. Every time she would give me a compliment she would add "pe pe pe." (Nice haircut pe pe pe/I like your dress pe pe pe/Well done on your test pe pe pe) I was too young to ask her what that meant and no one in my family has the faintest idea what she was doing. Do you?
Answer:
Yes, I know exactly what she was doing. She was spitting in your face. In a nice way. She meant it with love. Her pe pe pe was saving you from the Evil Eye.
There is a belief that when someone's virtues are highlighted, there is a risk of harm from the forces of evil. Heaping praise or speaking too much good about you could invite the Evil Eye, the destructive powers of the universe, to counter the praise by hurling negative energy and bringing into question whether you really are so good.
But the Evil Eye only poses a risk when you give praise and praise only. You can block the Evil Eye if you spit at the person you are praising. The insult of being spat at serves to counter-balance the praise, thus neutralising the powers of evil.
A full blown spit is not necessary. I little pe pe pe does the job. That's what your grandmother was doing.
And she didn't make it up. This custom is mentioned by the holy master Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev in a curious context. He used it to explain the rain on Sukkos.
Something that has baffled meteorologists around the world is the sudden weather change after Yom Kippur. As Sukkos arrives we seem to always get an unexpected downpour. This is so reliable that my non-Jewish neighbour brings her pot plants inside as soon as she sees us build the Sukkah. It seems a little ironic. How can G-d let it rain on the one festival when we eat outdoors?
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok explained that rain on Sukkos is actually a blessing. Sukkos is the celebration of the cleansing of our souls that happened on Yom Kippur. As we sit in the holy shade of the Sukkah, celebrating the new year and our newly purified souls, the Evil Eye may look at us with an accusing glance. We have it too good. We don't deserve to be forgiven for our sins. We aren't worthy of such special treatment. We are spoilt.
So it rains on Sukkos. G-d is spitting on us. After showering us with blessings on Yom Kippur, the rain is G-d saying pe pe pe. The Evil Eye should leave us alone. We do deserve to be forgiven, and we do deserve to celebrate in G-d's Sukkah, because no matter what we do, we are His children. The rain, like your grandmother's pe pe pe, is all an expression of love.
Good Shabbos and Good Yomtov,
Rabbi Moss
Source:
Yashresh Yaakov on Shema Shlomo (Karlin) Parshas Kedoshim. This explanation reconciles the Chassidic custom to remain in the Sukkah in the rain with the Talmudic statement that rain on Sukkos is an expression of divine displeasure. Indeed, pe pe pe is an insult. But who would walk away from such a loving insult?