PARSHA-PIX
Parashat Ki Teizei
In the upper-left is a fellow in a tank. This is multiplied by 5 to indicate that there are (at least) five mitzvot or mitzvot-sets that deal with war in Parshat Ki Teitzei. Can you find them? We'll start you off with the opening portion of the sedra. See how well you do from there. The donkey in the upper-right is multiplied by 3. Same challenge to you, dear Torah Tidbits reader - can you find at least three mitzvot dealing with donkeys. At top-center is a set of warning lights. This refers to the mitzva of building a MA'AKEH on one's roof and being careful to remove all hazards from one's property. The couple under the chupa also represents more than one mitzva in the parsha. If you have enough children and/or guests at your Shabbat table, spread around the tasks and get someone working on finding marriage-related mitzvot in the sedra. The boot/shoe in the middle of the page looks like an army boot, but here it represents the shoe of CHALITZA. The toilet bowl is for the requirements of providing sanitary facilities in an army encampment. Rather than include this topic with the tank, it is singled out to make the point that even something like a toilet bowl can be associated with a mitzva. (See Meaning in Mitzvot) The pyramids remind us of Egypt and the Exodus, both of which we are obligated to remember. The nest with eggs is the result of someone chasing away the mother bird. The tree with one apple left should be available to a poor person, rather than the owner taking every singel fruit. The dumbell has unequal weights, which is not permitted (in a commercial context, of course). And finally, we come to the reminder finger with knot, times 4. Can you find all the different things that the Torah commands us to remember? TTriddles 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 (SHO'F'TIM) TTriddles: [1] Four Double-Headers (this is a correction from last week's presentation) [2] Mr. Katz's favorite dish is sweet & sour tongue. Who gets the credit for it, besides Mrs. Katz? [3] A zebra is a horse with stripes. What other horse has stripes associated with it? [4] The mitzva like HYDROGEN [5] Steven Hill is Adam Schiff [6] Different antigens on the surface of the cells [7] It's the 488-525 Song [8] He can wear a CHAI, not a tie [9] It REALLY is the thought that counts And the answers, please... [1] Sorry about miscounting the double-headers. The original TTriddle said 3 double headers. There are four. And they are the four p'sukim of the haftara that are HEADED by word-DOUBLEs. The haftara of Sho'f'tim comes from Yeshayahu 51:12-52:12. The double headers are ANOCHI ANOCHI (51:12), HITO'R'RI HITO'R'RI (51:17), URI URI (52:1), and SURU SURU (52:11). Not only does each word-DOUBLE HEAD a pasuk, but a parsha as well. They are truly double headers. Which is why the solutions that pointed to the word-doubles in the parsha were not as good as the haftara answers. They are word-doubles in the sedra, but they don't HEAD p'sukim. [2] Katz is a common family name of Kohanim. It is the initials of Kohen Tzedek. (Not everyone with the name Katz is a kohen. Nor are all Cohens kohanim, for that matter.) Tongue is part of the L'CHAYAYIM which is part of the three-part gift to kohanim known as MATANOT. Commentaries tell us that each of the three gifts was given by G-d to the kohen in the merit of Pinchas. The cheeks and tongue, particularly, are associated with the pasuk, VAYA'AMOD PINCHAS VA'Y'PALEIL, and Pinchas stood in prayer. This pasuk is also part of the process of pasuk-analysis that leads the Gemara to say that Avraham Avinu instituted Shacharit. [3] I was so happy when a few solvers got this one. Aside from a zebra, the other horse associated with stripes is the extra horse of a king that is not necessary for his cavalry or other "tachlis" purpose. The prohibition of a king having too many horses is punishable by MAKOT, often translated as STRIPES. [4] Hydrogen is a gas, a very light gas. In fact, it is the lightest gas and it heads the list of elements as well as gases. That makes it REISHIT HA-GAS (a sound alike - closer in Hebrew than in English) of Reishit HaGez, the first shearing, which is to be given to a kohen. [5] Steven Hill is one of the very few Orthodox Jewish actors of note. He was the original head of the Mission Impossible Force, but left the show when the filming schedule did not accommodate his Shabbat observance. (He became religious while doing Mission Impossible.) His other well-known TV character is Adam Schiff, the district attorney on Law and Order. The show divides its time and story, almost equally, between a police story and a court case that came from it. This makes it a perfect TTriddle-representation of SHO'F'TIM V'SHO'T'RIM. [6] It is the antigens or lack of them on blood cells that determines the different blood groups or types. In Jeopardy style, the question that correctly answers TTriddle [6] is, What distinguishes BEIN DAM L'DAM. On a serious note... The Midrash asks why birds get their blood covered in accordance with Torah law, and human blood is so often spilled without such respectful treatment. The answer offered is that humans are often guilty of Sin'at Chinam, gratuitous hatred. This idea is supported by a drash on 17:8 - What is BEIN DAM L'DAM? Why is their a difference between blood and blood? Because of DIVREI RIVOT BISHARECHA - interpersonal disputes. - Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank in the name of a Chasidic master. [7] Mitzva #488, according to the count of Sefer HaChinuch, is the mitzva to rejoice on the Shalosh Regalim (end of R'EI). Mitzva #525 from SHO'F'TIM, is the prohibition of being afraid or worried about the greater number of horses or vehicles possessed by the opponents we will have in wars. That makes the 488,525 song, DON'T WORRY; BE HAPPY. [8] The wearing part was misleading, and is in the TTriddle only to make it read right. CHAI yes and TIE no refers to a king, who may have up to CHAI (18) wives, but not 19, that is YUD-TET or TET-YUD, pronounced TAI or TIE. [9] This was a reference to EIDIM ZOM'MIM, the plotting witnesses, whose unique punishment was meted out only if their plot was still in the realm of thought, but had not yet been actualized. SUCCESSFUL SOLVERS... RHM & family submitted a nice mix of correct solutions and pretty good tries at the others. DK/BE had a respectable submission including a nice answer to a TTriddle that wasn't asked. He took oxygen rather than hydrogen and matched it to the mitzva of testimony, specifically the rule that the testimony of two or three witnesses is acceptable, but not the testimony of one witness only. Oxygen, DK/BE points out, exists in a diatomic molecular form, O2 (that's the form we need for each breath we take), or in a triatomic form, O3, which is ozone. But it does not exist in nature as single atoms. He also pointed out that the sweet and sour aspect of the tongue in [2] can be a reference to the Talmudic statements about the tongue's potential of being the loftiest (sweetest) or lowliest (sour) organ of the body. Zvi Roth submitted a modest solution set and even made the effort not to send it in so early. That's okay, ZR, anytime is fine. MM/Bklyn sent in a strong set of solutions, and took hydrogen, as the lightest of elements, to be like the mitzva from the sedra that is called a MITZVA KALA, a light mitzva - namely, SHILU'ACH HAKAN, the sending away of the mother bird. And ES, a veteran, once-in-a-while PPP solver, shook those cobwebs, put on his warped thinking cap (that's what you need to solve TTriddles) and came up with a good solid "nice try". This week's (Ki Teitzei) 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] 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] Suess's Mulberry Street Sin
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