Last Week's PPP (Tzav)

[1] The top is a groaner, but... TIYUL = TOUR, HAMMER is a TOOL, TOUR-TOOL if you say it enough times is TURTLE which is TZAV in Hebrew (Tzadi-Vet) which sound like TZAV (Tzadi-Vav), the name of the sedra. Sorry. It gets better...

[2] The series a half plus a third plus a fourth plus a fifth and so on has no limit. Even though successive terms that are being added get smaller and smaller, the sum keeps getting bigger and bigger and does not converge to a limit. It is an infinite series. With fire in the numerator, we have fire as being infinite oreternal, as in the fire of the Mizbei'ach shall never be extinguished; it shall always be there.

[3] Rabbeinu Yisrael Isserlin was the author of the work, T'RUMAT HADESHEN. As in the pre-dawn procedure in the Beit HaMikdash, as described in the opening p'sukim of Parshat Tzav.

[4] Rabbeinu Yosef Babad was the author of the major work on the Sefer HaCHinuch, known as the MINCHAT CHINUCH. In Parshat Tzav we learn about the flour-oil-spice offering of every kohen before he served in the Beit HaMikdash. This Mincha offering was a one-time offering of each korban. It's known as MINCHAT CHINUCH.

[5] The circle made of the letter P is a P-Circle, or, in Hebrew, a P-IGUL, as in PIGUL, one type of invalid korbanot.

[6] Then there is the triangle, ABC, with midpoints P, W, and L, indicated on each side of the triangle. (I corrected the marks on the half-sides, but the way it was in the previous TT should not have hindered a proper solution.) The "give-away" hint for this PPPpart was the letters P,W,L rather than the traditional D,E,F.For these midpoints represent the three midpoints that occur in Parshat Tzav for P'sukim, Words, and Letters in the Torah. Yes, I know that the ones I've calculated are not the same as the ones Tradionally noted in a Chumash, but based on the Chumash we have today, the three midpoints all fall in Tzav.

[7] And here is my personal favorite, even though it is kind of hard. Most PPPs satisfy me only if someone, but not too many, solve it. This one I like even if no one gets it. I realize now that the way I posed it is too difficult; I should have said something like: Opposites can be found in the last of the Prophets andthe first of the Writings. See if you do any better with that as a hint, and I'll answer [7] later.

Radio Riddles

Both riddles were solved by the same caller last Thursday night. Then I asked a version of [7] above as a third riddle and the same fellow called back with an alternate solution, but the good one.

[A] This was the Big Deal riddle: The little ones from this week and last stand for the Geula future and past. Of course it's past and future, but rhyming riddles are classy.

[B] And this was the Noam Productions riddle: What commands in this week's sedra are particularly timely?

And there are more, since TTA carried on even during the weeks that there were no TTs printed. So we have riddles from the first night of Chol HaMoed from Motza'ei Isru Chag, which was Leil Erev Shabbat Parshat Shmini. Of course, I have to remember the riddles. Let's see...

Chol HaMoed:

[C] (I don't remember this riddle. If it comes to me, I'll pass it along.)

[D] Hillel's sandwich really should be eaten at the end of the Seder, since it commemorates the eating together of Matza and Maror with Korban Pesach, which was eaten AL HASOVA, at the end of the meal, when one is satisfied not hungry and not stuffed). If we ate it at the end of the meal, what would be a good name for it?(Remember, this is a light-hearted riddle, not a heavy question.)

Pre-Shmini:

[E] Good luck for them; warning for us.

and L'Havdil...

[F] They had it, we read (past tense) it.(This riddle was given on Thursday night, April 8th.)

Answers after the TT359 Report and the presentation of TT362PPP.

The TT359PPP Report...

Yes, I know, most people had many, many better (or at least more important) things to do with their time than solve PPPs. A very few TT readers sent in solutions. ShSp correctly identified [3] and [4]. Okay on [6] and a few nice tries. C.E. (I'm sure he's interested in staying initials only) got [5]. ES really only got[5], but had some good "nice tries" on a few others. All in all, it was a slow time for solutions.

Let's get to the radio riddles and at the end, B"N, will come the TT362PPP.

Answers to the Radio Riddles

[A] The little ones referred to in the riddle are the letters in a Sefer Torah that a Sofer writes smaller than normal. Last week there was a small ALEF in the opening word of the parsha - VAYIKRa. This week (meaning Tzav) there was a small MEM in mOKDAH. ALEF and MEM represent a series of pairs of redeemers. There wasMoshe and Aharon with the redemption from Egypt. Mordechai and Esther from Purim is another Alef-Mem pair. Future, as expressed in the Haftara for Shabbat HaGadol, will be Eliyahu and Mashiach. Another famous Mem-Alef pair is/are Ephraim and Menashe. It can be suggested that with a history throughout the Book of B'reishitof friction (to say the least) between brothers - Kayin and Hevel, Yitzchak and Yishmael, Yaakov and Eisav, Yosef and his brothers - finally, at the end of the Book, we find two brothers who were worthy of Yaakov's bracha and of becoming to models for the blessing of Jewish sons throughout the generations. A good relationshipbetween brothers is a necessary element of Redemption. The Say Hey kid of Flatbush (not to be confused with #24 who'll be 68 in three weeks) adds that the real redeemer is G-d, a.k.a. MAGEN AVRAHAM (Mem-Alef). Someone else (I don't remember who) mentioned AVINU MALKEINU as the Alef-Mem redeemer.

[B] The timely commands are from 6:9 - MATZOT TEI'A'CHEIL... matzot shall be eaten... and 6:10 that forbids the baking of Chametz (in reference to the Mincha). That command is doubly timely - it is both pre-Pesach and we read it on Shabbat when one may not bake anything.

The third radio riddle was a variation of [7] above, and here is the solution.

Rabbi Chanina b. Tradyon, Avot 3:3, says that two who sit together and there is no Torah between them, that is a MOSHAV LEITZIM, a place of time-wasters and fool-arounders (or is that foolers-around?). That term appears in the opening chapter of T'hilim, which is the first book of K'tuvim, the Writings. However, on theother hand, two who sit together and there is Torah between them, the Divine Presence dwells between them. This is supported by a pasuk from the Haftara of Shabbat HaGadol which comes from the final chapter of Malachi, which is the final booklet of Trei Asar, which is the final book of N'vi'im. It's no Moshav Leitzim referredto the pasuk in the Haftara quoted by Rabbi Chanina b. Tradyon in Pirkei Avot.

[C] was the one I didn't remember. Still don't. So here are the others...

[D] Well, this one's corny (an inapropriate kitniyot adjective), but I liked it. A Hillel sandwich at the end of the meal would be called an AFI-KO-REICH. There, I've said it. Groan at your own risk.

[E] A rabbit's foot is a well-known good luck charm of theirs (non-Jews). For us, the rabbit's foot, not being split, is a warning against eating this non-kosher animal.

[F] The L'Havdil was to distinguish between the "them & us" of [E], which was Jew and non-Jew with the "them & us" of [F], which is Jews who live outside of Israel and those who live here. They had it, referred to SHMINI SHEL PESACH, which they had on Thursday, April 8th. We, on the other hand, read the first portion ofParshat SHMINI on Thursday morning. I didn't add that we all (Jews here and in Chul) counted it - it being the 8th day of the Omer. And all of this being on the 8th of April made the reference to the date a major hit towards successful solutions. So the answer to [F] is SHMINI.

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