Jastrow: פֶּלֶךְ

פֶּלֶךְ m. (b. h.; פלך to cut out, round; cmp. פֶּלַח) [circle,] 1) district. B. Bath. 21ᵃ התקינו … בכל פ׳ ופ׳ they ordained that teachers must be appointed, one for each district. Macc. 7ᵃ. Ib. 12ᵇ בן לוי … גולה מפ׳ לפ׳ … לפִלְכוֹ פִּלְכוֹ קולט a Levite (native of a place of refuge) who has killed a person accidentally flees from one district to another, but if he flees to his own native (juridical) district, his district protects him; Zeb. 117ᵃ; Yalk. Ex. 323; a. fr.—Pl. פְּלָכִים, פְּלָכִין. Tosef. Bicc. II, 8 לא … יחידים אלא פ׳ פ׳ they did not go up (to Jerusalem, with the first-fruits) singly, but by districts. —2) [ball of tow, wool &c.,] distaff or spindle. Keth. IX, 4 (86ᵇ) על פִּילְכָהּ ועל עיסתה a husband may administer an oath to his wife on her distaff (on what she spins or weaves) and on her dough. Yoma 66ᵇ (in answer to a woman’s question) אין חכמה לאשה אלא בפ׳ there is no wisdom for woman except at the distaff. Gen. R. s. 56, end לאשה שנתעשרה מפִּלְכָהּ … ומן הפ׳ הזה וכ׳ (Ar. מפלחה … הפלח) like a woman that became rich through her distaff (or spindle, spinning or weaving), and she says, since I have become rich through this distaff (spindle), it shall not part from &c.; a. fr.—Trnsf. vocation, duty. Gen. R. s. 71, v. הוֹדָאָה; ib. רחל תפסה פ׳ שתיקה Rachel made silence her duty (not to betray her sister when she was substituted for her); Midr. Sam. ch. XXVIII; a. e.—מחזיק בפ׳ holding the distaff, being like a woman, forced to stay home, lame. Tanḥ. Masʿé 12 (expl. מחזיק בפ׳, II Sam. III, 29, among the curses that fell back on the house of David) שנעשה כאשה שאחזתו פודגרה he (Asa) became like a woman, for podagra seized him; Snh. 48ᵇ; Y. Kidd. I, 61ᵃ bot. ומחזיק בפ׳ זה יואש ‘and holding a distaff’, that means Joash (who was abused like a woman); a. e.