Treading the beautiful path

 

Was it a misprint? In the back of the שו"ת נודע ביהודה מהו' תנינא they printed a copy of the שטר רבנות the city of Prague presented to the נודע ביהודה. As is customarily done it was written in flowery & poetic language.  In one of the  phrases, it says אנשי שם ויפיפי פעם ( the people accepting the N.B. as their Rav) The publisher of the נודע ביהודה writes in the footnotes that the words "יפיפי פעם" is a mistake because there is no such terminology and it has no meaning. He continues, he is surprised at the original publisher of this שטר רבנות, Harav Professor Kauffman for not realizing  this mistake. The fact is, the term "יפיפי פעם" is not a mistake. It was used close to a thousand years ago when the Piyut for שביעי של פסח was written. The פייטן describes the Yidden as יפיפי פעם. The term is probably based on the Pasuk in שיר השירים  - מה יפו פעמיך  Art Scroll translates יפיפי פעם "those who on the beautiful path do tread" (בני ישראל)