ParshaPix

Parsah Pix
Busy ParshaPix this week, reflecting a very busy sedra. This is an all-new Pix, but some elements have appeared before. You can really spend some quality sedra time with your children and Shabbat guests with ParshaPix this week. Upper-left is really the starting point, the scales representing JUSTICE. In this case, MISHPATIM. In addition to the broad idea of justice, see what else can be found in the sedra, for which the scales of justice would be an appropriate representation. Upper-right is the "fist" referred to as one of the weapons that can injure or kill. An eye for an eye, literally, an eye UNDER an eye, is depicted here as money under an eye, based on Rashi and all other commentaries. The bull and the fire are two potential causes of damages - one of the many key topics of the sedra. The sneaking thief was caught in the cellar. Under what circumstances is one held blameless for killing him? Under what circumstances would one be held accountable? The guard at his post represents the whole topic of the FOUR SHOMRIM. The hands pulling the money out of the wallet are about to lend money at 0% interest. Or, perhaps, they are about to offer a bribe. Which will blind the judge receiving it, as in the image of the blindfolded head. The rabbit in the hat is the symbol of magic, the real practice thereof (or the attempt at a real practice thereof) is forbidden and can be a capital offense. The witch on the broomstick stands for the same 3-word pasuk. Down the lower-left side are images of the Three Regalim, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. The Har Sinai pix for Shavuot also corresponds to the end of Mishpatim where the events of Matan Torah are presented with other details not presented in Yitro. The quill and scroll is for Moshe writing down "all of G-d's words" (Shmot 24:4). There is milk & meat for the first of the three p'sukim LO T'VASHEIL. Lower-right is the TZIR'A that G-d will send into the Land to help slowly drive out some of the nations there. The cloud is covering Har Sinai (end of the sedra). The tooth is referred to in the mitzvot related to injuring an EVED K'NAANI and being required to free him. It is also one of the forms of damages. Also, there is a tooth for a tooth.

TTRIDDLES
Last week’s double prize winners - “B’OR PANECHA” CD (not from Noam Productions, 8 Malchei Yisrael and Rav Shefa Mall, this time - but go there, they have great stuff at good prices) and a RUBIK’S INFINITY GAME from BIG DEAL (15 Malchei Yisrael, 3 Lunz, and 64 Rabbi Akiva in Bnei Braq - always fun and useful to shop there) - were the Guys from C.C. Similar prizes are on line for this week. Let’s see who takes the TTriddles’ honor.

Last week’s (YITRO) TTriddles:

[1] Through the little shopping center, cross Mitla, all the way down Paran and cross 6 Days.
[2] TARDCHIR
[3] Real Question (but counted as a TTriddle): What angle does the ramp of the Mizbei'ach make with the ground?
[4] Just live soot
[5] David to Avneir. Nechemya to the creditors. Who to whom in this week's sedra?
[6] (also a "real" question, but counted as a TTriddle this week, in honor our our new Chess and Scrabble Club) CHECKMATE wins in Chess. What is the highest possible score for the word CHECKMATE for Scrabble?
The solutions, please...
[1] Amazing how many solvers just took the easy half-answer, without checking further. Shmot 19:2 says that Bnei Yisrael traveled from R’FIDIM to MIDBAR SINAI... If you want to simulate that journey in the neighborhood of Ramot Eshkol, if you want to go from Mevo Refidim to Rechov Midbar Sinai, just follow the directions in TTriddle [1].
[2] There isn’t an Onkeles-related TTriddle every week, but often enough to make Targum an ongoing suspect. D’CHIR is the Aramaic for ZACHOR, as in the fourth commandment. In Va’etchanan, SHAMOR is translated as TAR. So TARDCHIR is Shamor v’Zachor b’Dibur Echod.
[3] This one was not a TTriddle in the conventional sense, but rather a combination knowledge question and trigonometry problem. According to Rabbi Yosi, whose opinion seems to be the more popular one, the Mizbei’ach was 10 amot tall, including the corners, which rose one amah above the top surface of the Mizbei’ach. The ramp was 30 amot long and rose to the top surface, a height of 9 amot. If we say that the 30 amot was the measure of the ramp along the ground (which seems correct), then the angle that the ramp made with the Mizbei’ach is arctan 9/30, or approx. 16.7O. (If the 30 amot measure is along the slope of the ramp, then the angle is arcsin 9/30, or approx. 17.5O.) There is another opinion about the measurements of the Mizbei’ach and the ramp. Rabbi Yehuda says that the Mizbei’ach was 10 amot square (irrelevant to our problem), and only 3 amot tall. But he says that the ramp was only 10 amot long, so the same 3:10 ratio exists, and the angle with the ground would be the same. 
[4] Back to a “real” TTriddle. No one got this one, but there were some imaginative attempts. Translated into Hebrew, we get RAK PI’ACH CHAI, whatever that means. But the spelling is important. REISH-KUF PEI-YUD-CHET CHET-YUD. Those are the initial letters of RE’U’EL, KEINI, PUTI’EL, YITRO, CHOVEV, CHEVER, and YETER - the seven names of Moshe’s father-in-law.
[5] Yitro’s criticism of Moshe’s judging the people by himself, was expressed with the words, LO TOV HADAVAR ASHER ATA OSEH. Similar words were said by David to Avneir, and by Nechemya to those Jews who took their fellow Jews as slaves/servants because they couldn’t pay their debts.
[6] And here is another non-TTriddle, unconnected to the sedra or anything else, except the Chess and Scrabble club we have at the Center on Tuesday mornings. The word CHECKMATE can be placed on the board so that it spans two triple word scores and the second C or the M is on the double letter score. Since CHECKMATE is a 9-letter word, two letters have to have been on the board in the right place. Specifically, two of the H,E,K,M,A,E or two of the C,E,C,K,A,T. CHECKMATE is then worth 22 points, plus the extra 3 for the doubled C or M - that’s 25, times three and then again, for 225, plus the 50 point bonus for the BINGO, totalling 275 points. 
The following TTriddle solvers (some more than others) are hereby acknowledged: DfromRamot, The Guys from CC, DK-Bet El, JAM-Columbia, ZviR, and RHM. Keep on Ttriddling. Much appreciated.

This week's TTRIDDLES
[1] Where the 4's answer is the same as the 3
[2] Taken literally, you'd be able to tell on only 2 of 7
[3] NABFBX TSR NRCHI CANJV
[4] Two sidelines on an ADON
[5] Happens if you get doubles on the first, second, or third roll
[6] He dates his wife
[7] Nobel laureate, 1885-1962, Copenhagen
[8] KUF-YUD-MEM-HEI TZADI-BET-KUF-DALET-MEM-HEI
[9] _________, to war, to war, camp

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