Jastrow: מוּפְלָא

מוּפְלָא m. (פָּלָא) 1) concealed, hidden; miraculous. Ḥag. 13ᵃ (quot. fr. Ben Sira) במ׳ ממך וכ׳ search not into that which is concealed from thee (mysteries of theosophy); Gen. R. s. 8 (v. פְּלִיאָה). Midr. Till. to Ps. III; a. e.—Pl. מוּפְלָאִים, מוּפְלָאִין. Snh. 16ᵇ (play on פלתי) שמ׳ מעשיהן for their proceedings are wonderful; Ber. 4ᵃ שמ׳ ברבריהם.—Trnsf. (in the phrase מ׳ סמוך לאיש, arisen from איש כי יפלא, Lev. XXVII, 2) a child whose power of discrimination is uncertain. Tem. 2ᵇ לרבות מ׳ הסמוך לאיש ish (Lev. l. c.) is used in connection with vows (ערכיו) in order to include ‘a doubtful person next to a man’, i.e. a boy near the age of religious majority; Num. R. s. 10; Naz. 62ᵃ; a. e.—Ib. 29ᵇ מ׳ סמוך לאיש דרבנן the rule that the vow of a boy of twelve years of age is valid is merely a rabbinical enactment.—2) distinguished, esp. mufla, a special expert assessor at court to whom questions of law are referred, instructing judge. Hor. I, 4 (if a court gave a wrong decision) לא היה מ׳ של ב"ד שם in the absence of the mufla. Ib. 4ᵇ לא היה מ׳ … נמי פטורין וכ׳ so also, if the mufla was absent, they cannot be made responsible for their decision, because they ought to have informed themselves and did not do so (therefore their judgment was not a legal act at all). Y. Snh. I, 19ᶜ top היה הוא ומ׳ שלהן וכ׳ he (the questioner) and the mufla of the court (to whom the question had been referred) went to &c.; Tosef. Snh. VII, 1; Tosef. Ḥag. II, 9 מופלג ed. Zuck. (Var. מופלא). Sifré Deut. 152 (ref. to יפלא, Deut. XVII, 8) מלמד שבמ׳ הכתוב מדבר this intimates that the text speaks of the mufla; Snh. 87ᵃ top (Rashi: = מומחה). Cant. R. to III, 7; Num. R. s. 11 (ref. to סריס, II Kings XXV, 19) זה מ׳ של ב"ד וכ׳ the saris means the mufla of the court, who is called saris (mediator) &c., v. סָרַס II.—Pl. מוּפְלָאִין. Hor. 7ᵃ Ms. M. a. Rashi (ed. מוּפְלִין). Midr. Till. to Ps. l. c. מוּפְלָאֵי ב"ד.