ParshaPix

Upper-right is a desert scene, to set the tone for the sedra and book of Bamidbar. And by the way, to bring up an old topic (which a TT reader invariably does)... The word is B'MIDBAR because it is connected to SINAI. As a stand alone word, it would be BAMIDBAR, as most people say.

Bamidbar is the only sedra with this specific "problem", but there are several sedras whose names have dropped the lead HEI. HaMishpatim, HaShmini, HaMatot, HaD'varim. Also, two sedras have a dagesh dropped from their name as it appears in the sedra, but we've returned the dot in our use of the name: P'KUDEI and TAZRI'A (but you wouldn't know of the latter one unless you pronounce Ashkenazically). To be fair to the Bamidbar-B'midbar issue, with CHUKAT, we retained the word as it appears, rather than changing it to the stand-alone form CHUKA. So why did we change B'MIDBAR? Ver veist.

The major component of the PP is/are the flags - 12 of them - representing the flags of the tribes, as they camped and as they marched. The flags were not supposed to be facsimiles of the originals, just a representation of 12 flags. However, a few of them might be reasonable guesses. (Again, ver veist.)

The compass stands for the different sides of the Mishkan the different groups camped.

The parking meter represents the encampments, since the modern Hebrew word for parking has the same root as to encamp.

The abacus is for the various countings.

The skull with the 5 on it comes from 3:47 in the portion of the exchange between firstborns and Leviyim (who were not themselves firstborns). We would say, 5 shekel a head.

The bottom middle to right is a PPP.

TTRIDDLES
TTriddles are Torah Tidbits-style riddles on Parshat HaShavua (sometimes on the calendar events of the week). The best solution set submitted each week (there isn’t always a best) wins a double prize — a CD from...Noam Productions 8 Malchei Yisrael, Geula & the Rav Shefa mall CDs, tapes, equipment - good prices and a gift (game, puzzle, book, etc.) from...Big Deal• 15 Malchei Yisrael in Geula• Rechov Lunz right off the Ben Yehuda Midrachov in the center of town• Rabbi Akiva Street in Bnei Braq.

Even if you can’t solve any, they are fun (and sometimes informative) to read about in the weekly TTriddles report (which is what you’re reading now).

Last week's (B’har-B’chukotai) TTriddles:
[1] Where Birkat HaMazon and the Amida meet (sort of)
[2]No raphus cucullatus since the time of the Magen Avraham
[3] The Aramaic self-counting number
[4] Abe>Ben, Ben>Salmon Portland
[5] O is the what, oo is the where (TRA) 

The envelope please...
[1] The answer is in the Haftara. There is the pasuk BARUCH HAGEVER from the last paragraph of the benching, and there is the words (in singular, rather than plural) of the 5th of the middle brachot of the weekday Amida, R’FA’EINI HASHEM V’EIRAFEI...

[2] Raphus cucullatus is the scientific name for the DODO bird, extinct from the latter part of the seventeenth century. The Magen Avraham (Magen Av is really the boys’ camp in the Catskills) was Rabbi Avraham Avli b”r Chaim HaLevi Gombiner, born in 1633 and died in 1683 (at age 50). His most famous work was a commentary on Shulchan Aruch. His most famous student was the “Eliyahu Rabba”. There is no indication one way or the other as to whether the Magen Avraham ever saw a dodo bird or not. But they went extinct around his time. Dodo is found in B’har in 25:49 - O DODO O VEN-DODO...

[3] V’SAFARTA L’CHA... and you shall count (the years and Shmita cycles to Yovel)... The Targum for count is TIMNEI, which is close to the Aramaic for the number 8. Whether that qualifies 8 as a self-counting number or not, I’m not sure. But it is the answer to this TTriddle, and several people got it.

[4] Abe, as in Abraham Lincoln (the second L is silent in English, but pronounced in Hebrew). Ben is Benjamin Franklin. And Salmon Portland are the interesting first and middle names of S.P. Chase, 1808–73, 6th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, in which position he presided over the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson. He also served as a senator and as governor of Ohio. His greatest achievement, however, was as secretary of the treasury, when he created a national bank system. This last mentioned position is the probable reason that his portrait was on the defunct $10,000 bill. With Abe on the $5 bill and Ben on the C-note (a.k.a. $100 bill), the TTriddle represents the promise of 26:8, that if we follow G-d and His Mitzvot, then 5 of us will be able to repel 100 of our enemy, and 100 of us will be able to “chase” away 10,000. That gives a second meaning for the presence in the TTriddle of Salmon Portland.

[5] The TRA at the end is a hint. With O inserted, you get TORA, the what of the question. The where is TOORA, meaning HAR, as in Aramaic for Har (Sinai).

Judges have not decided yet who has the best solution set, or even if prizes will be awarded for last week’s TTriddles. But, in the meantime, special mention to MM/Bklyn for his submissions. which included the extra aspect of CHASE, (but missed the myriad connection). And to RHM, our best telephone solver. And to ZviR, who comes through with his first solutions almost before the ink is dry. And to DM, the Israeli brother of MM/Bklyn.
P.S. Even though Napolean Bonaparte was NOT a TTriddle, it could have been a TTriddle (or its solution) for 2 prohibitions from Parshat BO.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] What's the number of the train from Sanaa?
[2] Who followed Horace Greeley's advice when it was time to for Bnei Yisrael to camp?
[3] Neither father nor son are palindromes, but these are
[4] Almost ending with the end, they end with the beginning
[5] 26,208 GAG

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