PARSHA-PIX - Parshat Ki Teitzei

Parsha Pix
Did not have room in the hard copy for these explanations of a very busy ParshaPix, but am including them in the e-versions of Torah Tidbits - website and email. Some elements are from past years; some are new. They all are good jumping-off points for discussions about Parshat HaShavua.

Let's take things in order, from the top-left, going across to the right and then down to the second row, also left to right, and continuing through the rows.

When you go out to war... This is represented by the guy in the tank. But there are several more war-related mitzvot in the sedra. So if you choose the tank to ask your children or guests about, keep asking about it over and over. 

The warning lights at the top-middle are for the prohibition that accompanies MA'AKEH, namely, the prohibition of not leaving hazards in your home or on your property without repairing them, or at least warning others of the danger.

The boot stands for the CHALITZA ceremony, which involves a special shoe.

The couple under the Chupa is another element of the PIX with multiple connections. The mitzva to marry properly, and the requirement of a husband to actively see to his wife's happiness during the first year of marriage (and thereafter), are two of several marriage-related mitzvot in Ki Teitzei.

The pyramids are to remind us to remember the Egypt experience and the Exodus therefrom. Both are commands from the sedra in different contexts.
The toilet bowl (the suggested name for the special football game to be played at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens - old joke) represents the requirement to provide sanitary facilities in or just outside and army camp.
The tree with the single apple left is a gleaning to be left for the poor.

The reminder knotted string on the finger stands for the many ZACHOR-commands in the sedra. This too is a question to ask repeatedly until all the REMEMBER commands are found and discussed.

The headstone marking a grave is a reminder of the mitzva to bury the dead and the prohibition of leaving a body unburied.

The donkey is yet another example of multiple mitzva connections. Go through the sedra to find all the references to donkey.

The set of weights is defective, having one side heavier and larger than the other. This stands for the prohibition of possessing (let alone using) false weights and measures.

The elephant with his trunk tied in a knot will not be able to pick up the peanuts he is working with and munch them. This is, therefore, an illustration of Not muzzling an ox while it is threshing. Elephants and knots are both associated with memory, hence this also represents the many commands to remember and not to forget. And, tying a knot in an elephant's trunk definitely seems to be a violation of the prohibitions of avoiding cruelty to animals.

The key is for KI TEITZEI and another 27! p'sukim (mitzvot) that start with KI. That's a lot. And there are at least another 20 KIs in the sedra, not at the beginning of a pasuk.

Bottom line. The deer and zebra are tied together. That would be a Torah violation of harnessing an ox and a donkey to a plow. Even though the deer and the zebra are neither ox nor donkey, and even though they are not plowing a field, simply tying them together can considered a Torah violation of LO TACHAROSH...

And finally we come to the bottom right. President Abraham Lincoln (the second L being silent in English, but quite voiced in Hebrew) is wearing a woman's hat. If he had been Jewish, this would be considered a Torah violation against a man wearing women's apparel. 

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 and/or a gift (game, puzzle, book, etc.) from...Big Deal A fun place to shop

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 (SHO’F’TIM) TTriddles:
[1] Solve for w: w=1.5w=50w
[2] Henry Bone, Alice Ratakowsky, Barney Fife, Andy Sipcowicz
[3] The housewife planted fear in his heart
[4] You'll see this week, He'll give next week
[5] Deciduous Sapiens

And the envelope please...
[1] Mathematically, w=0 (that’s zero) is the only value that will work in the equation. But math is not the issue; Parshat HaShavu’a is. w stands for witness and it equals 2. The equation then is 2 is the same as three is the same as 100. This is how Rashi and others explain the Torah’s statement that by the mouth (testimony)of two witnesses or three witnesses can a person be executed. If it says two, then certainly three is okay? It comes to equate two to three (in a lot of the details of testimony). And why does it repeat EIDIM? To teach us that 100 witnesses are the same as three and as two.
[2] Henry Bone is the character that Ray Walston played in Picket Fences. He was a judge. Alice Ratakowsky was one of the common judges on L.A. Law. Barney Fife was the deputy sheriff played by Don Knotts on the old Andy Griffith Show (a,k,a, Andy of Mayberry). And speaking of Andy, Andy Sipowicz (misspelled in last week’sTT) is one of the main detectives in NYPD Blue, played by Dennis Franz. Hence, the solution to this TTriddle is SHO’F’TIM V’SHO’T’RIM.
[3] This TTriddle includes the four types of people who were sent home rather than participate in a MILCHEMET MITZVA, a war not required by direct command from G-d. HOUSE - someone who built a house and has not yet lived in it; WIFE - one who has betrothed a woman but not yet completed the marriage; PLANTED - he who planteda vineyard and has not yet performed the various mitzvot with the first yield; FEAR IN HIS HEART - one who is afraid that his lack of “mitzva-credit” will put himself in mortal jeopardy in battle. (There are other interpre- tations for this).
[4] KI TEITZEI... When you will go out to war against your enemies... Towards the end of Sho’f’tim, the phrase is followed by, “and you will see horse(s) and chariot(s)... In Ki Teitzei (this week’s sedra, which was next week, last week) the phrase is followed by, “and He will give (the enemy) into your hands. You’ll seethis week (which by now is last week), He’ll give next week (which is now this week).
[5] Typo on this one in last week’s hard copy of Torah Tidbits; corrected in the electronic versions (website and email). Deciduous is description of a type of tree, the kind that loses its leaves in the fall (as opposed to evergreen). Sapiens means human beings, as in the name of our species, Homo Sapiens. Deciduous Sapienswas meant to convey the idea of KI HAADAM EITZ HASADEH, for man is (like) the tree of the field.
Solvers include RHM, MM/Bklyn, ZviR, and D from Ramot. Honorable mention to HEM/Sabba.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Is M'chuya'el of P'nu'el liked?
[2] How many tags on lana e lino?
[3] distal phalanx to tragus