PPP... sort of In last week's (TZAV) ParshaPix, the item that was not explained on page V of the Back Page was the first of the 5-part PPP sort of. It was a triangle with the midpoints of each side indicated. Three midpoint - corresponding to the three midpoints of the Torah - for p'sukim, words, and letters. Deutsch @ Gush correctly identified the midpoints as referring to those of the Chumash. However, he said that one was in TZAV and the other two were in SH'MINI. If that would be so, one could ask why the midpointed triangle would be part of TZAV's PPP sort of. The answer is that all three Chumash midpoints are in TZAV, notwithstanding what is indicated in standard Chumashim. According to the computer-assisted counts of p'sukim, words, and letters in the Torah, there are 304805 letters in 79976 words in 5846 p'sukim. Middle of the Torah in p'sukim should be between the 2923rd and 2924th p'sukim, which is between Vayikra 8:8 and 9 in the R'vi'i portion of TZAV. The "traditional" midpoint for p'sukim is identified as exactly one pasuk earlier. I haven't checked this very small discrepancy out completely, but one avenue to explore are the p'sukim that have a parsha break within them. If these were to be counted as separate p'sukim, maybe the midpoint will fall where the Chumashim indicate. Not so close for the other midpoints. According to our count today, the space between the words EL and Y'SOD in Vayikra 8:15 divides the Torah in half, wordwise.The traditional DAROSH DARASH in Vayikra 10:16, beginning of Chamishi of Sh'mini, is "nicer", becasue it puts words with the same spelling on either side of the midpoint. Only problem is that the double DALET-REISH-SHIN are words 40921,40922 in the Torah. That's a deviation of 933 words. Difficult to explain away or even to theorize about. The middle letter (the 152403rd one in the Torah) is an ALEF of the word HU in 8:28, not the big VAV of GACHON in 11:42 at the end of Sh'mini. That's 4830 letters off. Next comes Pennsylvania, Kent, Proactinium, all of which are PA - abbreviation for Pennsylvania, Pa Kent was Superman's father, and the symbol for chemical element #91 (the one right before uranium) is Pa. Add brocade, motorcade, cavalcade and you get PAKEID, which is Aramaic (as in Targum Onkeles) for TZAV. The Maftir's main color is RED, as in Para Aduma. The complement of red is green. Two attempted solvers thought that CEDAR as in EITZ EREZ was the shade of green I was looking for. But it was KELLY GREEN, as in MAYIM CHAYIM EL KELI. Dr. Christian Barnard was the pioneer of heart transplants. All directions except south would be NEW. So together, we have G-d's promise from the Haftara that He will give us a LEV CHADASH and a RU'ACH CHADASHA, a new heart and a new spirit (wind). Deutsch @ gush on the nose. One more. BALAM, MAGISH, TACHANAI RISHON are baseball's shortstop, pitcher, and first baseman, respectively. Not the most common double-play combination, but in numbers we get 6-1-3 or 613, TARYAG. HODCUOF Taxi Persky Eerfone The woman of Gur rose at sunrise to fill the cup. Stores are closed on Shabbat. What opens? Linked VAV and ZAYIN.
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