ParshaPix

Some things old, some things new, some things simple, some things tough...

Upper-right are contradictory symbol of war (the spear) and peace (the dove with olive branch). Pinchas' act of "violence" was rewarded by the Covenant of Peace. It works his way, sometimes. Pacifism does not necessarily lead to peace and forceful offensive action can.

The Brit Shalom is the Kehuna, symbolized by the CHOSHEN in the upper-left of the Pix. 

The strange presentation of GREECE is a PPP to be solved by readers this week and explained in the TTriddles report IY"H next week.
The calculator stands for the counting of the people. The lambs represent the two daily T'MIDIM, or the Musaf of Shabbat - both of which are mitzvot from this week's sedra. That is the meaning of 2+2= Shabbat. 2 T'midim and 2 more lambs for Musaf.

Skip to the bottom. The binoculars are for Moshe Rabeinu to look out over the Land... 

The SHOFAR is also one of the mitzvot from Parshat Pinchas. Parents who are using ParshaPix to go over the sedra with their children can ask them to find the command to blow the Shofar. If they are the right age, this is a good exercise, because nowhere does it say anything like "And you shall blow (or hear) the Shofar". It does say YOM T'RU'A Y'H'YEH LACHEM. We are taught in the Oral Law that the command is to hear the Shofar on Rosh HaShana. See MITZVA WATCH in the Sedra Summary for further comment.

And now we are ready for the nastalgic part of this ParshaPix. We are talking about one of the earliest and greatest PPPs. This time, we will not leave you in suspense for a week. And parents (or children - depends who is reading these words and who will be on the receiving end of the Pictorial Question), depending upon the ages and interests of your children, you can have them work on all or some of this Pictogram. It reads from left to right. First is a candy CANE inside a musical NOTE. Which gives us KEIN B'NOT... Next is a sniper, TZALAF in Hebrew. Combined with the 1 gives us TZELAF-CHAD. The bear is a DOV and the piece of the multiplication table reminds us of the method by which many of us had to learn it - namely, by ROTE. All together, we have G-d's answer through Moshe to Machla, No'a, Chogla, Milka, and Tirtza: KEIN B'NOT TZELAFCHAD DO'V'ROT...

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).

Last week's (BALAK) TTriddles:
[1] He received doubtful applause
[2] Villians in contrasting colors
[3] With the key, there are 1 in Breishit, none in Shmot, 2 in Vayikra, 5 in Bamidbar (4 in a row), 2 in D'varim. Without the key there are 3 more
[4] Three who said our cursers will be cursed
[5] Former guardians of Moav
[6] Bil'am's Afghanistan
[7] The hook went from 3rd to 2nd place from the Parsha to the Haftara
[8] TTriddle (not on the parsha): Its branches are Hebrew and/or Yiddish literary figures and U.S. presidents. What's the trunk?

And the envelope please...
[1] After Balak was frustrated for the third time by Bil’am’s inability to curse Bnei Yisrael, the Torah tells us that VAYISPOK ET KAPAV. Rashi explains the verb as hitting one hand against the other. The root of the word VAYISPOK is related to SAFEK, doubt. Hence it was BIL’AM who received doubtful applause.
[2] BLACK & WHITE, that is BALAK & LAVAN are the villians in contrasting colors. Relates the two is the notion in the Midrash that Bil’am was Lavan.
[3] This TTriddle refers to sedras whose names have three letters only. The one in B’reishit is MIKETZ. EMOR (spelled without a VAV in the Torah) and B’HAR are in Vayikra. Bamidbar has the most, including a run of four in a row. First, there was NASO. Skip a sedra and then we have SHLACH, KORACH, CHUKAT, and BALAK. In D’varim, we have EIKEV and R’EI. Without the key adds two more (not three as was incorrectly indicated in the TTriddle), namely TISA and TEITZEI. That is, if you drop the KI.
[4] G-d first said it to Avraham. Yitzchak then said it to Yaakov in his blessing to him. And Bil’am said it to Balak (about Bnei Yisrael).
[5] Rashi seems to indicate that OG and SICHON were the neighboring kings that protected MOAV and with their defeats at the hands of Bnei Yisrael, VAYAGAR MOAV, Moav was scared.
[6] Afghanistan was the first country in the alpahbetical list at the time of the KAF-TET B’NOVEMBER (1947) vote in the U.N., and it still is. Check the roster of the United Nations, Afghanistan is first. Bil’am said that the first among the nations is AMALEK.
[7] Okay, this is another obscure TTriddle, but... In the Parsha, the famous MA TOVU is spelled TET-VET-VAV. Towards the end of the Haftara, the phrase MA TOV appears, with the VAV (hook) going from being the third letter in the parsha to being the second letter in the Haftara.
[8] This one, as noted, is not from the sedra, it is an Israel Center TTriddle. The answer is Rechov Keren HaYesod. If it be a trunk, then its branches are Washington and Lincoln (pronounce both Ls) streets and Smolenskin, Achad HaAm, Sokolov, Mendele Mocher Sforim, Shalom Aleichem, and Mapu.

One of the Parshat Korach TTriddles referred to the first pasuk of that sedra, which has 10 names, as possibly being a record-setting pasuk in that category. We reported in the Chukat column that the Caplan brothers of RBS found an 11-name pasuk in Parshat Pinchas (27:1). This week, we received an email from DW of Toronto with another 11-name pasuk, B'reishit 46:21, which names Binyamin and his ten sons. If anyone finds a pasuk in Chumash - or anywhere in Tanach - with more than 11 names, please let us know.

Concerning last week's non-parsha TTriddle (see page 25), here are some more details. Rechov Keren HaYesod runs from Kikar Paris (where King George, Ramban, Ben Maimon, Agron, and Keren HaYesod intersect) to Kikar Plummer (where King David, Keren HaYesod, and Jabotinsky intersect). 8 streets begin or end at Keren HaYesod. Two of them are named after U.S. presidents #1 and #16 - Vashington and Linkolin as they are pronounced in Hebrew. Joining them on the eastern side of Keren HaYesod is Avraham Mapu, father of the Hebrew novel. On the western side of Keren HaYesod are streets named after other Hebrew and Yiddish literary figures – Perez Smolenskin, Achad HaAm (Asher Hirsch Ginsberg), Nachum Sokolov, Mendele Mocher Sforim (Shalom Yaakov Abramowitsch, who wrote both Hebrew and Yiddish works), and Shalom Aleichem (Shalom Rabinovitz, who wrote in Yiddish using a pen name because Yiddish was ridiculed by the Haskala-niks of his time).

Special mention to ZviR and Y&S G (soon of Alon Shvut) for their fine partial solution sets. 

This weeks 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

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