Last Week's ParshaPix Puzzle
TT333PPP KI TAVO
[1] Upper-left: a basketball referee signaling a three-point basket. This represents the
three times that basket is mentioned in Ki Tavo. In the opening portion of the Bikurim
Declaration, we are told to take the firstfruits and put them in a TENE (SALA in Aramaic,
SAL in modern Hebrew, basket in English) and then the Torah tells us that the kohen shall
take the TENE from the Bikurim-bringer's hands and place it at the side of the Mizbei'ach.
Later in the sedra, in 28:5, among the blessings we will receive for keeping the mitzvot,
is BARUCH TANACHA... blessed is your basket (meaning your fruit). Hence, three references
to basket - a 3-point basket. And if you will look into the sedra and find a fourth use of
TENE, as in the opposite "blessings" for not keeping mitzvot, then I will say
that the Brachot and Klalot were really presented simultaneously, with both BARUCH and
ARUR said about each item. Or I will say that the three baskets refer only to good things.
Or something like that.
[2] Upper right: BRT, say the names of these letters and it sounds like BI'ARTI, as in I
have gotten rid of all KODESH from my house. Kodesh is holy; the B, R, and T are holey.
[3] Here we have a lockbox with words
being safeguarded within. The words are British (for elevator, apartment, truck, and
policeman). The picture represents the fulfill ment of the opening words of the last pasuk
in Ki Tavo - U'SHMARTEM ET DIVREI HABRIT... And you shall preserve the words of the
Brit...
[4] Under the ref is a funny face made up of a heart, eyes, and ears. 29:3 says - And G-d
did not give you a heart to know (to recognize G-d's many kindnesses) or eyes to see nor
ears to hear, until this very day.
[5] Lower-left: The cow was con verted into a map of Israel with the marking of the
capital, Jerusalem. Delta-B is the derivative of the bee, namely honey. The delta also
goes for the cow, its derivative being milk. So we have ERETZ ZAVAT CHALAV U'D'VASH.
[6] Which brings us to the addition of fractions which would yield the fraction 3417/3713,
which is a bit more than .92, if the numbers were numbers and the fractions were
fractions. Which they are not. Each number is an atomic number for an element. What we
then have is reference to the pasuk in the Haf tara for Ki Tavo (Yeshayahu 60:17), Under
(In place of) bronze (copper is #29) I will bring gold (elemnet #79), and (the plus sign)
under (in place of) iron (A.N. 26) I will
bring silver (element #47). Atomic numbers have been used in PPPs before, but this was too
good a phrase to pass up.
Which brings us to the radio riddles from Torah Tidbits Audio on Arutz-7 this past
Thursday night. Only one made it onto the air, and I gave the answer at the end of the
show. In case you missed it, give it a try.
Pesach, Shavuot, pre-Rosh HaShana, Sukkot, but not Chanuka.
The answer will be found at the end of this PPP report. So too for the other TTARR that
was not aired.
The end of the reading is the beginning of the learning.
Havdala Haratis came in first, and had a very solid set of answers. They missed only [1].
They'll be hard to beat this week. DYANEC followed with [2,3,4,6]. M. Ramach had [3,4,6]
and got [5] using the delta combined with vache (French for cow) to get D'VASH.
OLD BUSINESS:
M. Ramach also responded to my request for other explanations about swaying during
davening. He referred to Sefer HaK'doshim which says that NER = NESHAMA, and just as a
flame flickers, so do we when engrossed in prayer. Also, in Sh'mot 20:15 the Torah tells
us that the people saw (the wonders of Ma'amad Har Sinai) and they trembled. Thank you, M.
Ramach.
Here's another possibility (I think it's a real one) - T'hilim 2:11 - Serve G-d (that's
prayer) with fear (reverence), and rejoice with trem bling. Now back to the PPP report.
OTOH, Linda D. quotes Rav Aryeh Kaplan z"l who wrote that "another means for
helping a person achieve a deep state of kavana is standing absolutely still during the
Amida... swaying and bowing may actually interfere with kavana..."
Thank you, TT readers for those insights.
Back to the PPP report
Rehovot Ks not only got [2,3,4,5,6], but they pointed out that [6] is a rerun from last
year. I thought I checked. No wonder it felt familiar when I thought of it this time.
oops. On the other hand, if I can just claim that there is another solution for [6]...
Let's look at the result of adding the fractions again. 3417 is the G'matriya of T'hilim
143:10, which asks G-d to "teach me to do Your will, so that HaShem's spirit will
guide me on a straight path." This pasuk is a good response to the warnings of the
Tochacha. We ask HaShem's help. At to the 3713, that's the G'matria of three different
partial p'sukim of the Tochacha. And you thought I just repeated last year's chemical
elements.
Steinhart also remembered [6]. (Why didn't I?) They had [2,3,4,5,6] and a plausible (even
good) alter nate for [1]. They are the frontrunners at the moment. Benjietc had [2,3,4],
nice try on [1]. DM had hits on [2,3,4] and a near hit on [1]. David & Tanya hit
[2,3,4,6] and a nice try on [1]. ES - partial plus nice tries. And that's about it for
this week.
Here's that answer to the first Radio Riddle. The passage of the Bikurim declaration is
associated with Pesach because we say most of it at the Seder. Shavuot is Yom HaBikurim,
the beginning of the Bikurim season. We read Ki Tavo, which contains the portion, before
Rosh HaShana, and Sukot is the deadline for being able to make the Bikurim Declaration.
Bikurim may be brought until Chanuka, but the portion is not recited after Sukkot.
As far as the other riddle, I decided not to give the answer, but rather to challenge you
with it. Remember that it is a question associated with the Shabbat Parshat Ki Tavo.
The end of the reading is the beginning of the learning.
A separate prize to the best answer (or the first received, in case of a tie.)
Here are two text elements in this week's PPP
[1] HEREDITARY CHICKEN POX
[2] PAUL, BABE, JACK, JILL
This week's PPP Nitzavim
[The Nitzavim Homepage]
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