ParshaPix

PARSHA-PIX - Parshat Matot-Mas'ei

Parsha Pix
In the upper-right we find the two pairs on people that are involved in the concept of HAFARAT N'DARIM - A father and his daughter, and a husband and wife.

Below them is a soldier (in silhouette) multiplied by 12000, the number drafted to fight against Midyan.

When the soldiers returned from their successful battle, they brought with them much booty. This they shared equally with the rest of the people (of course, since there were fewer soldiers than not, each soldier's share of the spoils of war was greater). This split is represented by the sheep, cows, and donkeys evenly paired off. The pot of gold represents the gold that was given to the Mishkan by the officers in gratitude for success which included a zero casualty rate.

Tucked in below the gold to the right is a math-looking expression of 5 crowns plus one. This stands for the death-toll of Midyan's elite — 5 kings (Evi, Rekem, Tzur, Chur, and Reva) plus Bil'am.

The pyramids and mass of arrows leading finally into Eretz Yisrael stand for the list of travels and camps from the time we came out of Egypt until we were poised on the threshold of Eretz Yisrael.

The quill stands for the reference in the beginning of Mas'ei to Moshe's writing everything down concerning the travels of the People in the Wilderness.

The map shows three cities of refuge on the east bank of the Jordan and three cities to be chosen inside the Land. 

Above the map is a cow with a pair of KARNEI PARA, the unique TROP note on the word BA'AMA in 35:5.

The scales of justice refer to the laws of homicide. The Torah emphasizes the need to judge carefully and fairly, and not to distort justice as specified in the Torah, even if logic leads you to different conclusions.

This leave the chatan and kalla times five, representing the five marriages mentioned towards the end of the sedra between the daughters of Tzelafchad and men from the tribe of Menashe.

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 - broad selection, good prices, personal attention 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. You never really know what you’ll find there 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).
Winner from last week is JAM390 from Columbia (the university, not the capital of South Carolina nor one of a dozen or more other U.S. cities, nor the South American country, which is spelled Colombia anyway) - please be in touch to figure out how you’ll get your prize.

Last week's (PINCHAS) TTriddles:

[1] Namesake of great(x15)-grandfather
[2] Two brothers whose names would both fit well in a different shevet
[3] Now, his son. In the days of his great- grandfather, a city. A royal associate of his uncle. 
[4] Her nephew is a friend. 
[5] His son is creative.
[6] Who are the grammatical multiple personalities?
[7] His cousin isn't also NUGI, is he?
[8] He comes from a confused great(x15)-grandson
[9] From what shevet are the stereotypical Ramat Avivis?
Note: there is also a PPP on the Parsha Pix

And the envelope please...

[1] First son of Reuven was CHANOCH. His grandfather was Yaakov. His great-grandfather was Yitzchak. Great(x2)-grandfather was Avraham Avinu. Now count how many more greats. Terach (3), Nachor (4), Serug (5), Re’u (6), Peleg (7), Eiver (8), Shelach (9), (Arpachshad (10), Shem (11), No’ach (12), Lemech (13), Metushelach (14), Chanoch (15). Chanoch, son of Reuven was the namesake of his great-great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great- great-grandfather, Chanoch b. Yered.
[2] Two of the sons (and family groups) of Shevet Shimon are YAMIN and SHA’UL. Both names would fit well into Shevet Binyamin. (King Shaul was from Binyamin and Y’mini is another way of saying BENJAMINITE.)
[3] BELA is Binyamin’s son. In the days of Binyamin’s great-grandfather, i.e. Avraham Avinu, Bela was an ally-city of Sedom. And Bela was one of the kings of the dynasty of Binyamin’s uncle Eisav.
[4] Asher had 4 sons - Yimna, (Yishva - not mentioned in Parshat Pinchas), Yishvi, B’ri’a - and Serach, Asher’s daughter. B’ri’a had Chever and Malki’el. Her (Serach’s) nephew, Chever is a friend (Chaver).
[5] Yeitzer (root word of CREATIVE) was the son of Naftali.
[6] Bnei (the sons of) DAN were/was SHUCHAM. Only one son is mentioned, yet he is called BNEI, hence he is a grammatical multiple personality. So too for the sons of PALU (one of the sons of Reuven) - ELI’AV. And so too for Efra’yim’s son Shutelach, whose son(s) are listed as EIRAN.
[7] This one is a bit weird (as if the others aren’t!). GUNI’s cousin is SHUCHAM b. DAN. Also known previously as CHUSHIM. If Dan’s son has a flip-flop name like that, is GUNI’s other name NUGI? No, it isn’t. But that was the question.
[8] This one is a TTriddle in the style of Games Magazine’s Cryptic Crosswords. The great(x15)- grandson is SHUTELACH. Confused (mix up the letters) gives you TUSHELACH. He comes FROM, gives us M’TUSHELACH, the great(x15)-grandfather of SHUTELACH b. EFRA’YIM. [9] The stereotypical yuppie-type of Ramat Aviv is known as a TZ’FONI, which is also one of the family names of Shevet GAD. ParshaPixPuzzle (within the ParshaPix on page 3) If you noticed at the top of the ParshaPix, there was the word GREECE spelled with a small GR, a split EE and a big CE. Translate into Hebrew and you get YAVAN, with a small YUD - as in the name PINCHAS at the beginning of the sedra, a broken VAV - as in the word SHALOM, also in that first portion of the sedra, and a large NUN (sofit) - as in MISHPATAN in the portion of B’not Tz’lafchad. Believe it or not, most of the 9 TTriddles and the PPP were solved by several different solvers. Not all. But most. We’ll see in the next few days if and who we have a winner for the best solution set. So far, the solutions are promising. We've got good partials from RHM (welcome back), DannyL, AvidanA, Y&S G + K, and ZviR. Al Beer had a nice try on the PPP. Judges decision is not in yet. We'll announce it either this week or next.

This week's TTriddles:

[1] 6 months in time; much less in distance
[2] I'm going to music camp
[3] Taklamakan or Gobi
[4] Yitchak grandly connects two places
[5] 1+2+(2+1+7+1) + 1 =15
[6] It's sure to fog up the mirror
[7] Identified with his father & step-father
[8] Yul Brenner (to Charton Heston)

For best effect, the following riddle should not be asked this Shabbat. Wait a couple of months and ask it then. Q. When do we read portions from four consecutive sedras on the same day? A. On Shabbat Parshat Matot-Mas'ei which is also Rosh Chodesh Av. We read from Pinchas for the Maftir. Matot and Mas'ei for the regular reading. And from D'varim at Mincha.


[The Matot-Mas'ei Homepage]
[The TORAH tidbits Homepage] [How to use TORAH tidbits]
[About The OU/NCSY Israel Center] [About TORAH tidbits]


The Torah Tidbit Archive