ParshaPix

The padlock at the top-left refers to the closedness of the parsha. Va'y'chi is the only sedra that does not begin with a parsha-break (i.e. some blank space before its first word).
Yaakov's bed is mentioned twice at the beginning of the sedra.
The crossed hands are YAAKOV's, from when he gave the brachot to Efrayim and Menashe.
The crown is for Yehuda, as Yaakov said on his deathbed.
The wolf is Binyamin.
The deer in the oval is the symbol of the Israeli Postal Authority. They borrowed their symbol from Yaakov's bracha to Naftali, that he would be the AYALA SH'LUCHA, the swift hind.
The lion cub is Yehuda, as in GUR ARYEH.
The snake is for DAN.
The ship is ZEVULUN.
The donkey is YISSACHAR.
The dripping water faucet is for REUVEN.
The bread is from the bracha of ASHER.
The equation is Yaakov's: Efrayim and Menashe will be like Reuven and Shimon.
And the bottom is for the end of the book of B'reishit - CHAZAK.

TTriddles
[1] I was struck by the use of the words VA'Y'VATEIR... L'VADO for Binyamin (as Yehuda explained to the ruler in Egypt - Yosef). The same wording was used when Yaakov went back for the small items he left on the other side of the YABOK. Running the words through a Tanach search program yielded YOTAM ben Y'RUBA'AL as well. There the word L'VADO is not used, but he is identified as a KATAN. That word also describes Binyamin. And Yaakov had previously said "KATONTI...".
[2] The letters are the official postal abbreviations for 13 states in the U.S. These 13 each have a town in them called GOSHEN. As did Mitzrayim and parshat Vayigash. RHM guessed the correct answer, not because she knew about the U.S. Goshens or checked them, but because she second-guessed my warped TTriddle-making mind. That's part of the secret to success in solving PPPs and TTriddles.

[3] LAITINI is a word made from reversing the letters of INITIAL. If initials are Roshei Teivot, then perhaps laitini can be SOFEI TEIVOT. Baal HaTurim points to the final letters of the first three words (as in TRI-MOT) of Vayigash. The spell SHAVEH, equal. Yehuda was presenting himself to Yosef as an equal - royaly to future royalty - not a humbled servant or beggar for food. This was Yehuda's message/warning to Yosef.
[4] When Yosef and Binyamin cried on each other's necks, Rashi says that Yosef was crying for Binyamin's future loss of the Beit HaMikdash, one and two, which stooon part of Binyamin's territory, for 410+420 years. Binyamin cried for Yosef's loss of the Mishkan in Shilo which stood for 369 years.
[5] If you spin a foreign dreidel to long and hard, its letters can get mixed up and spell GOSH'NA - to Goshen, from Parshat Vayigash. The local (Israeli) dreidel (or should I say S'VIVON) will rearrange letters to spell HAGAFEN. The bracha for the wine that can lead a person to read the dreidel letters out of order.

This week's TTriddles, scattered throughout the hard copy, are collected here for the benefit of the electronic TT reader.
[1] 5328171 5822146 6415411 6452880 6724617 5806335
[2] Rabbi Avraham bar Shmuel Abul'afya
[3] Joel Quenneville's guys in ancient Israel
[4] 219 b. -168
[5] What's the pastry chef's name?
[6] Brian, Carl, Dennis, Mike, Alan, and...?
[7] His rhyming sons could have been Lupus & Rufus rather than... who?

[The Vayechi Homepage]
[The TORAH tidbits Homepage] [How to use TORAH tidbits]
[About The OU/NCSY Israel Center] [About TORAH tidbits]