PARSHA-PIX
Parashat Ki Teizei
BIKURIM. You can see the basket of Bikurim placed at the side of the Mizbei'ach. That placement is part of the mitzva. So is reciting the Bikurim portion. The Smiley is saying something in the picture. First of all, it is a Smiley because part of the mitzva is to be happy with all the GOOD that G-d has given us. Secondly, in the speech-bubble are two arrows, one going down and one going up. Among the text of the Bikurim bringer are words to the effect that we went down to Egypt, we got out, and we came up to Eretz Yisrael. The telescope pointing downward from the sky represents our request following the statements of VIDUI MAASER in which we state that we have done everything related to the produce-mitzvot properly. We ask G-d to look down from on high (so to speak) and bless the People and the Land of Israel. The treasure chest stands for the heavenly treasure that we ask G-d to open for us, so that we will receive beneficial rain and that the work of our hands will be blessed (28:12). Upper-left and two pictures below it, we have two views of a dime - heads and tails. The tails is crossed out because of our hope that we will do G-d's mitzvot and be privileged to be "a head and not a tail" (28:13), and not the opposite, G-d forbid, as is threatened in the Tochacha. For your trivia information... The dime is the only American coin that does not tell anyone its value - neither in cents nor in dollars or fraction of a dollar. All it says is ONE DIME. More trivia. The "proper" words for heads and tails are OBVERSE and REVERSE. The Hebrew terms for heads and tails are PALI and EITZ. PALI is short for Palestine, which is what the pre-State coins said on their obverse side, and EITZ is for the palm tree that was on the reverse side. JTYLTK Which leaves us with the twelve stones with writing on it, representing the stones that Moshe commanded Yehoshua to erect and whitewash, and write all of the Torah onto. It is unclear if there was a set for the Jordan River and another set for HaR Eival, or the same set was moved. TTriddles ...are T(orah) T(idbits) riddles. They can be solved with obscure trivia knowledge or a Rashi, Baal HaTurim, etc. or Targum Onkeles and a hefty amount of mental flexibility. Even if you can't solve them, they are fun and sometimes educational to read a week later when the solutions are included. Enjoy. Here are last week's (KI TEITZEI) TTriddles: [1] Remember & say it; remember & don't say it [2] What's behind door number three? [3] 49-47=2. Also, 49+47=2. How? [4] (A) Ai's king, Haman and sons. (B) Baker, Bigtan, Teresh, and executionees. (A) & (B) alike? Different? [5] The first door of the exit has three locks. What do you need to get out? [6] Chop it, add 4, but don't change it [7] Part of its reward links it to honor of parents. What does it match for the first part? [8] Suess's Mulberry Street Sin And the answers, please... [1] The first remember is the sedra's last one - AMALEK. In addition to remembering what they did to Bnei Yisrael on our way out of Egypt, there is an additional mitzva to verbalize the remembering by reading/listening to Parshat Zachor. The remembering in one's mind is attributed to the prohibition LO TISHKACH. The "saying it" is from ZACHOR. To remember what happened to Miriam in the Midbar is also a mitzva (although not COUNTED) by Rambam or the Chinuch). There is no mitzva to say anything, but more than that, we can say that there is part of the whole thing that one should NOT SAY - namely, Lashon HaRa. [2] Door number three is a Hebrew-English play on words that refers to the third generation. So "behind" that DOR would be grandchildren of converts from Egypt and Edom who have no restrictions on marriage into the mainstream Jewish community. Moavites and Amonites, on the other hand, may never marry in. [3] KI TEITZEI is the 49th sedra in the Torah. R'EI is the 47th. No'ach is the 2nd sedra. So 49+47=2 means Ki Teitzei + R'ei = No'ach. Got it so far? In what way does that equation make sense? HAFTARA. [4] The members of both groups were hung (or hanged) on a tree. That's how group (A) and (B) are alike. If you check the p'sukim in Tanach, you will find that the phrase used in the text for group (A) is AL HA'ETIZ. For group (B) it says AL EITZ. I do not know the reason for the difference or even if there is a real difference, but them's the facts. And by the way, that's the King of Ai, not the King & I. Baker is SAR HA'OFIM who did not make out as well as the Wine Steward. Everyone else is from Megilat Esther, except for those executed by Beit Din for a capital offense. They are from Parshat Ki Teitzei. [5] This one is a little whimsical. The first door is the first portion (or Aliya) of EXIT, which is KI TEITZEI. It doesn't really have locks, but if it did, you would need the 3 keys - Ki Teitzei, Ki T'h'yena, and Ki Y'h'yeh. [6] If you take a VAV and chop it the right way, you get a YUD (sort of) which adds four to its numeric value. If that VAV happens to be in the word from our parsha - S'NU'AH (hated, less loved), then by chopping and adding four, nothing changes, since the resulting word S'NI'AH means the same. [7] It should be fairly obvious that this TTriddle is referring to the mitzva of SHILU'ACH HAKAN. The promise of ARICHAT YAMIM, "lengthening of one's days", is common to this mitzva and KAVOD for father and mother. This fact has been commented on by many. But before the Torah says, V'HA'ARACHTA YOMIM, it says L'MA'AN YITAV LACH, (do the mitzva so that it will be good for you). This phrase appears in the Torah's presentation of the prohibition of eating BLOOD. And that's the answer to this TTriddle. [8] Dr. Seuss wrote many entertaining children's books; his very first one, back in 1936, was, And To Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street. One of the pictures in the book shows a bandwagon (and more) being pulled by an elephant and two giraffes. This is in violation of the Torah's prohibition against plowing with an ox and a donkey together (D'varim 22:10, Sefer HaChinuch mitzva #550). This is NOT an extension of the Torah's prohibition; the actual Torah law is DEFINED in the Talmud as the harnessing together of two animals for any purpose. Pulling a wagon with an elephant and giraffes is forbidden D'ORAYTA, not less than plowing with an ox and a donkey. So that is Dr. Suess's Mulberry Street Sin. On the other hand, the scenes from the book never happened; they were the product of the imagination of the main character. So there was no sin. But this is a TTriddle. So there was a sin, and that was it. These words are being typed on Motza"Sh and already there are several solution sets received by email. Look elsewhere for the continuation of this report. (actually, the report didn't continue this week. Maybe next...) This week's (Ki Tavo) TTriddles, scattered around the pages of the hard copy, are collected here for the benefit of the readers of the electronic versions of TT. [1] Who said to whom: We'll give you Reuven and we'll take Yehuda? [2] Did Yehoshua ghost-write for R. Yehuda Ashkenazi? [3] SLY BY vs. GRAND - Z [4] 1234 nickname or nationality, 2314 description [5] ELBBUH UNNECESSARY [6] The entry of a city name in a database is doubly blessed. [7] Said this week before Musaf and sometime after Mincha [8] Not on it, but in its place [9] Bible, Mountain, Ox - Pearl Harbor
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