ParshaPix

PARSHA PIX
Busy ParshaPix this week, reflecting a busy sedra. This is a modified, updated Pix. It also contains some PPP-like elements that can challenge the older kids. ParshaPix are good for going over the sedra each Shabbat in a relaxed, fun way. Plagues number 8,9, and 10 are represented by the locust in the upper-right of the Pix, the rectangle of black in the top-center, and the sword, respectively. Some words about the sword (anagram intended). Makat B'chorot is the smiting of the first borns, that is their being killed. But there is another way of looking at Plague #10 and that is the smiting that the first borns did to some of the Egyptians. Some say that the first borns heard of G-d's repeated threat to them and were not too happy about it. Less so when Par'o kept refusing to allow the Jews to leave. They rebelled and took up the sword to make their protest taken seriously (so to speak). The YO-YO in the upper-left is Moshe & Aharon as treated by Par'o — Get out of my sight. Come back to the palace. Leave and don't let me see you again. Please come back and get rid of this terrible plague. The alarm clock shows approx. midnight, not exactly. G-d told Moshe he'd do the night's work AT midnight. When Moshe told the people what G-d had said, he said KACHATZOT (rather than BACHATZOT) so that people would not think that G-d did not do as prophesied, if they miscalculated midnight by a bit. The dog in the Pix is barking, but no dog barked on the night of Y'tzi'at Mitzrayim. The lamb in the doorway is the Korban Pesach that was brought into the homes and whose blood was placed on the doorposts and door jamb.The rectangle with nothing in it is a picture of Moshe's plans that not one animal's hoof be left in Egypt. Matza is matza and T'filin is/are T'filin. The baby, goat, and donkey represent the three different types of B'CHOR. The guard is for LEIL SHIMURIM. The bow is for BO. The two weathervanes bent in opposite directions resulted in the strong winds that brought the LOCUST in and then got rid of them. And then there are two different representations of the prohibition of breaking a bone in K.P. A greenstick is a fracture and the word ETZEM is broken.

TTRIDDLES

Once again, and after so many weeks of them, someone asked me what those unintelligible one-liners are at the bottom of some of the columns in Torah Tidbits.

Can it be that readers of Torah Tidbits don't know a TTriddle when they see one? Unintelligible one-liners indeed! Some actually take up two lines.
For these one-liners are none other than TTriddles, a clever contraction of Torah Tidbits riddles. No doubt, hundreds of TT readers have been solving TTriddles over the past few months, although only a small fraction of that number deign to submit their solution sets for consideration for the prizes.
You are hereby invited to give TTriddle-solving a try. You don’t have to do them all to get the inner satisfaction that comes from a correct solution. Even solving one is considered no small feat of mental gymnastics.
And if you really don’t want to wrack and warp your brains in this endeavor, we still recommend that you read the weekly TTriddles report. They are fun and also provide a SDT once in a while. And a lot of trivia.

Last week’s (Va’eira) TTriddles and their solutions:

[1] Gefangener, Yishuv, Berechyahu
[2] Who could be a Rentniv?
[3] There would be 15 others like this one if the B'reishit rule applied
[4] After he sang, the kikker went to the piojo
[5] Put a snow cone in a microwave
[6] Definite zio, possible geese
[7] Japan is the world's largest exporter but Egypt would have beaten them this once.
[8] If I had only had a Herbo franchise!
[9] Remove the L from Vasco Nunez de and you have a representation of one of the plagues

And here are the solutions...

[1] Gefangener is German for prisoner, which is ASIR in Hebrew. There are many yishuvim in Israel; the one intended here is ELKANA. How are you supposed to know which yishuv? It comes from the other two words in the TTriddle. Berechyahu was the father of ASAF, which makes him AVI’ASAF. ASIR, ELKANA, and AVI’ASAF were the three sons of KORACH.
[2] Rentniv is VINTNER backwards. A vintner is one who makes or sells wine. The person in the sedra who would qualify is the one whose name backwards is GEFEN, namely NEFEG, son of YITZHAR, brother of KORACH, and uncle to the fellows of TTriddle [1].
[3] B’reishit is one of 16 sedras that are named with their first word. If that method of naming prevailed throughout, there would be 16 other sedras called VA’Y’DABEIR, Va’eira being one of them.
[4] The key words in this TTriddle are SANG, which is French for BLOOD, KIKKER, which is Dutch for FROG, and PIOJO, which is Spanish for LICE. Well, how am I supposed to know that?! The point is that more than one solver got this TTriddle. It just takes a little work and a warped mind.
[5] Several people solved this one the same way. A snow cone in Hebrew is BARAD (the plague of hail). The microwave can refer to the unnatural HAIL that had ice on the outside and fire in the inside. What was intended was that a snowcone in a microwave BOILS, as in SH’CHIN.
[6] Another TTriddle with other languages, but a good riddle after the language barrier is overcome. ZIO is Spanish for UNCLE. GEESE is Hebrew for BROTHER-IN-LAW. Moshe was Elazar’s definite uncle. As to brother-in-law, there are different opinions as to who PUTI’EL was. If he was YITRO, then they would be brothers-in-law too.
[7] Japan is the world’s largest exporter of frog legs. With the supply that Egypt had after the Plague of TZ’FARDEI’A, they would have easily out done France. BTW, note the difference between FROGS and LOCUST. With the latter, not one single specimen was left.
[8] Herbo is an all-natural lice killer. Would have sold well in Egypt. Probably would NOT have worked though.
[9] Another one where solvers went in a different direction. Vasco Nunez Balboa was a famous explorer - first European to see the Pacific Ocean. Without the L, we have BABOA, something akin to BOILS. Intended sol’n: B, AB, O, A - BLOOD types.

This Week's TTRIDDLES

{1} Adlai's comment about ER would not have worked this time.
{2} read in its reverse's counterpart
[3] Just the dip is missing from the original 4
[4] 215 times the previous one
[5]Month that gives a double meaning to the command
[6] Avraham, Par'o, Machla et al, Mateh Bnei Yosef
[7] Seder Amirat K.P. (double-entendre)

[The Bo Homepage]
[The TORAH tidbits Homepage] [How to use TORAH tidbits]
[About The OU/NCSY Israel Center] [About TORAH tidbits]