ParshaPix

Ki Tisa starts with the Half-Shekel mitzva, as in the picture at the top. 
Top-right is a faucet, reminder of the mitzva of the kohanim to wash their hands and feet before service in the Mikdash. (And for us to do NETILAT YADAYIM in the morning, before davening and HaMotzi.) 
The olive oil in the upper-left is for the anointing oil. 
The mortar & pestle is for the Incense as well as the other ingredients in the Shemen HaMishcha. 
Lower-left is the picture of the modern day Betzalel and Oholiav looking over the plans for the Mishkan. 
The Shabbat candlesticks remind us of the Torah's reminder that Shabbat takes priority over the building of the Mikdash. 
Lower-right is the Davka graphic of the Eigel HaZahav. 
Above that are the Luchot before they broke, or maybe it's the second pair. 
The YUD-GIMMEL at the top are the MIDOT of HaShem that He taught us to be used when we, as a community, turn to Him in special prayer. 
The stool has 3 legs, or SHALOSH REGALIM, a play on Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot mentioned in the sedra. 
The large NUN and REISH are for the large letters in the sedra. (When using the ParshaPix with the family and Shabbat guest, ask if anyone knows any reasons for these two large letters. Of course, it pays to know the answers in advance, in case no one volunteers to explain them.) 
The ax is to be used to destroy AVODA ZARA in the Land, as we are commanded in 34:13. 
That leaves the welder's mask that Moshe used to cover his radiant face when he was with the people. (Note: After viewing many, many masks from various clipart collections, all were rejected except for the welder's mask, since the protection it usually affords the wearer can here symbolically represent protection of the beholders from the radiance of Moshe's face.)

TTRIDDLES
Continuing apologies to those who submit solution sets each week and are not sufficiently mentioned in Torah Tidbits. You deserve recognition, and you have my sincere thanks for your efforts.

Last week's (T'TZAVEH, PURIM) TTriddles:
[1] If it is an ad... (page 4, column 2)
[2] The Aramaic linguistic demonstration of Hoshea’s exchange statement. (6/1)
[3] This year’s Chanuka-Purim switcheroo. (7/2)
[4] It’s probably his English birthday this week. That would explain it. (15/2)
[5] Sam Crawford’s Purim (24/1)
[6] Haman leads & Mordechai rides Sir Barton (24/1)
[7] Mr. Peeble and Ogee. Ring a bell? (25/1)
[8] A port city advisor (26/2)
[9] Text in box on page 27, column 1
[10] One once, three once, ten once, twelve - eight times (page 29, above bottom ad)
[11] No’ach, Avraham, Eisav, Yaakov, Lavan, Chamor, Yosef, Yehuda, Moshe, Amalek, Yitro, and the ? and the ? (p31/col.2, above bottom ad)
[12] Who in the Maftir; what in the Megila (IV/2)

The solutions, please...
[1] The most common wrong solution was AD D’LO YADA, which seemed to be based on the word AD, and little more. Surprising that so many solvers went for that. Kinda weak, don’t you think? (Then again, who am I to call solutions weak, when the TTriddles themselves leave some people cold.) In this TTriddle, the words themselves were irrelevant. The only important thing is the five consecutive 2-letter words, as in the Maftir for Shabbat-Purim (or the Torah reading for Purim morning, as the case may be) - KI YAD AL KEIS KAH.
[2] This was less a TTriddle than my way of sharing an interesting discovery (while looking for TTriddles). Don’t get me wrong - it is a TTriddle. But its value is mostly in the ‘splainin’ (explaining, that is). TORA, spelled TAV-VAV-REISH-ALEF is a bull or an ox. That much I knew from CHAD GADYA. The Targum for SAFA, hem or rim of the neck-hole of the ME’IL of the Kohen Gadol is also TORA. What came to mind when I saw that, is the famous statement of Hoshea (towards the beginning of the Haftara for Shabbat Shuva) - namely, V’N’SHALMA PARIM S’FATEINU. Let our lips replace the bulls (animals, korbanot). Safa meaning lip is NOT translated of TORA, but another SAFA is. And that was good enough to raise my eyebrow and come up with this TTriddle. I really didn’t expect anyone to get this (MM/Bklyn sort of did), but that wasn’t the point. This explanation is the point.
[3] This one, on the other hand, is a real good TTriddle (in mine umble opinion). The only thing I messed up was using the word switcheroo instead of some variation of V’NAHAFOCH HU. Parshat HaShavua of Purim day was T’tzaveh. Some of the topics in the parsha were OLIVE OIL, MENORA, and inauguration of the MIZBEI’ACH. Tell me that isn’t a perfect Parsha companion for Chanuka. This year, Shabbat Chanuka was Parshat Vayeishev. The Sar HaMashkim, wine steward, is perfect for Purim. The baker could make the Hamantashen, but more importantly, we was hanged, which again, suits Purim admirably. And Potifar was a SARIS of the king. The Megila repeatedly refers to SARISEI HAMELECH. (In Mikeitz there are many parallels to the Megila, even more substantial than those cited for Vayeishev, but all in all, it’s a solid TTriddle.
[4] Parshat T’tzaveh is associated with 7 Adar, Moshe Rabeinu’s birthdate and yahrzeit. The usual proximity is used to explain the absence of Moshe’s name from T’tzaveh. (There are other reasons too.) This year, 7 Adar was Erev Shabbat T’ruma. People who noticed that, asked about T’tzaveh. The wording of the TTriddle is a flippant non-answer to the question.
[5] Sam Crawford was an oldtime baseball player who holds the major league record for TRIPLES. This was simply a reminder of Purim M’shulash, TRIPPPLE PURIM. (And if you’ll ask, How am I supposed to know who Sam Crawford is/was? The answer is, INTERNET and a search engine. If RHM can do it (with HA’s help), then you can, too.
[6] This was another TRIPPPLE PURIM TTriddle. But a nicer one than Sam. Haman leads Mordechai on a horse. Mordechai was wearing the king’s crown. Sir Barton was a horse, the first TRIPLE CROWN winner.
[7] Here’s another one that was solved by several perople via a web search. (A trivia nut could have done it with his own brain’s memory.) Mr. Peebles was the owner of the pet shop and Ogee was the little girl who wanted to buy the main occupant of the pet shop’s window — Magilla Gorilla.
[8] Here’s a TTriddle that brings us back to normal. Straightforward, no web connections necessary. The answer is TARSHISH, which was the port city from which Yona attempted to flee from G-d. Tarshish was also one of the advisors of Achashveirosh, the fourth of the seven listed in Esther 1:14. 
[9] This really wasn’t a TTriddle, but rather some Purim fun. Taken from FRUMSPEAK, the half-serious, half-fun book on Yeshivish, that yeshiva-, Hebrew-, and Yiddish-influenced version of English spoken by many Anglo shtaigers, it is the Yeshivish rendition of the beginning of Hamlet’s soliloquy, To be or not to be...
[10] This one refers to the names of the months of the Jewish Calendar that are mentioned in Megilat Esther. Month number One, Nisan, is mentioned once. The third month Sivan and the tenth month Tevet are each mentioned once. The twelfth month Adar, is mentioned in the Megila 8 times.
[11] This one should have had one more part to it at the end — and whom? The key to the whole TTriddle is the word VAYAVO, and he came. Germane to last Shabbat was VAYAVO AMALEK, and the Megila’s HATACH, HAMELECH V’HAMAN (twice, both of the private parties with Esther, and just by himself, HAMAN. The people mentioned in the TTriddle all follow the word VAYAVO in the Chumash. The two question marks refer to HA’ISH (Eliezer) and HAPALIT (the one who told Avra(ha)m that his nephew Lot had been captured).
[12] This was the most-solved of the TTriddles, even by the fraternal Bnei Braqer. CHUR was a who in the Maftir and a what in the Megila.
And that’s it for the T’TZAVEH-PURIM TTriddles. Remember, that TTriddles can be fun to read about, even if you don’t try solving them. But you might even have more fun trying to solve them. Try them with your family and Shabbat guests. Although TTriddles can be solved alone, the experience of most solvers is that they are more fun as a group effort. 
This week, RHM and MM/Bklyn worked hard at their solution sets, other solvers probably were distracted by Purim, but the honors and the double prize (a CD album from Noam Productions - the great music shops in Geula - 8 Malchei Yisrael - and at the Rav Shefa mall, and a game from Big Deal, the place where shopping is practical yet full of surprises and always fun, also in Geula - 15 Malchei Yisrael - and right off the Midrachov on Rechov Lunz) go to ZviR.

This weeks TTRIDDLES
[1] 7 times in a 22-day period
[2] TZALI and SHEITZEI are closer for Ashkenazim than S'faradim
[3] Hints at the oscillation between high spiritual level of Mishkan building to the depths of the Gold Calf
[4] On the Euphrates, it smells nice; on L.I. it's fishy
Slim pickings this week. Sorry.

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