PARSHA-PIX - Balak

Parsha Pix
Somethings old, somethings, new. Somethings explained, something a challenge for you.

Upper left is from one of the first ParshaPixPuzzles. There is a BLOCK (sounds like BALAK) in a nest, which makes it BLOCK BEN TZIPOR.
The messengers from Moav came to Bil'am with K'SAMIM B'YADAM, represented by the magic trick in the hand, upper-right.

Between these two elements is a globe (not a melon) with a patch covering one of its eyes. Balak said that Israel was so numerous that we covered EIN HAARETZ, the eye of the Earth.

Bil'am's donkey saw the sword drawn in the angel's hand; Bil'am did not see it at first (or second or third).

When the donkey talks to Bil'am, she asks him why he has hit her these three REGALIM, times. Using the word that refers to our cycle of holidays and to the People who observe them. The angel repeats the reference to SHALOSH REGALIM. The speech-bubble for the donkey contains the question (mark) about the three festivals, represented by the Lulav, Matza, and Torah.

The lion cub was one of the ways that Bil'am described the Jewish People. The Xed out snake is also from Bil'am's words, that there is no NACHASH in Yaakov. His meaning is that we do not rely on omens.

The Chicago basketball player represents the BULLS. The football player from St. Louis (formerly from L.A.) stands for the RAMS. Bulls and rams , 7 of each, were repeatedly offered as sacrifices to G-d by ParshaPix cont. from previous page

Bil’am and Balak. We suggest that you try to get this out of your kids rather than giving it away to them. (That is, if they follow American sports. If not, you’ve got your work cut out for you.)

Lower-left is a representation of Balak striking his hands together in disgust at Bil’am’s repeated failure to do as requested. VAYISPOK. A unique word in Tanach, appearing no where else.

Two elements left in the ParshaPix. There is a ROMACH (spear) that Pinchas took into his hand to act in protection of G-d's honor. Zev Frank of Arutz-7’s Torah Riddle show - SHEVA MI YODEI’A, discovered an amazing fact. ROMACH, spelled in the Torah REISH-MEM-CHET (no VAV) is numerically equivalent to 248, which immediately brings to mind the number of positive mitzvot in the Torah. Pinchas armed himself with the RAMACH (248) mitzvot in his righteous defense of G-d's honor. But Zev did not stop there. Too easy. What about the prohibitions in the Torah? There are 365 of them. Do we just forget about them? No. If we count just the prohibitions, starting from GID HANASHE and follow the count of the Sefer HaChinuch through the sedras, we come to an amazing discovery. The 248th prohibition in the Torah is at the end of Va'etchanan, and it is the prohibition of intermarriage and of taking a woman from the other nations. Exactly the sin that Zimri was guilty of. So Pinchas not only armed himself with a physical weapon, and not only did he have the 248 mitzvot guiding him, but he also had a numeric match to the one major prohibition in question.
This leaves us with the not so clear photo of a famous building in the United States. That’s all we’re saying for now. Take it as a PPP, in addition to the TTriddles that are scattered thoughout each issue of TT, and in addition to the collection of pictures on page 22. Have fun.

TTRIDDLES...
are Torah Tidbits-style riddles on Parshat HaShavua (sometimes on the calendar). They are found in the hard-copy of TT scattered throughout, usually at the bottom of different columns. In the electronic versions of TT, they are found all together at the end of the ParshaPix-TTriddles section. Some TTriddles are also presentedfor call-in solution on Torah Tidbits Audio (Arutz-7, Thursday night). The best solution set submitted each week (there isnt always a best) wins a double prize a CD from Noam Productions and/or a gift (game, puzzle, book, etc.) from Big Deal

Last week’s (CHUKAT) TTriddles:
[1] The other use of yoke-free cows
[2] Prophetic mention is a preview
[3] They match the Mizmors...sort of
[4] The water song trilogy
[5] Never inside, but in this sedra - above
[6] Para Aduma's appropriately looks likewhat Baama's is called

And the envelope please...
[1] Several TTriddles solvers answered EGLA ARUFA — which we are not going to accept as a correct answer. And here’s why: Whereas D’varim 21:3 insists that the calf be truly YOKE-LESS, we are talking about a calf (EGLA) and not a cow (PARA). In fact, the first Mishna in Para makes a point of giving the ages for a calf and a cow. Bottom line, they are halachically like two different animals. That’s not the real reason we’re not accepting EGLA ARUFA as the answer. The real reason is that it was too simple. Our real answer is more obscure. That’s good for TTriddles. Obscure is good. The only solver that gets partial credit for EGLA ARUFA is DM, who suspected (falsely) that we were looking for the pun of the EGG- la arufa being YOLK-less. Groan. The “real” answer is found in Shmuel Alef 6, where two yoke-less cows were tied to the new wagon made to carry the ARON.
[2] Balak is mentioned in the Haftara of Chukat, thereby being a prophetic mention which serves as a preview of the following week’s sedra.
[3] No one got this one. Too bad - it’s a good one. On the seven days of the week, we say the SHIR SHEL HAYOM. Two of the seven begin with the word MIZMOR, namely Tuesday and Shabbat. This sort of matches the third and seventh day sprinkling of the Para Aduma potion.
[4] Three things are called HASHIRA HAZOT, this song, in the Torah: the Song of the Sea, the Song of the Well (from Chukat), and the Torah. Since Torah is compared to water, we have a water song trilogy.
[5] The letter REISH never gets a DAGESH in it. But in Chukat, we find a dot above a REISH, in the word ASHER (Bamidbar 21:30).
[6] This was a nice TTriddle, well solved by a couple of solvers. The TROP on the words PARA ADUMA are KADMA V’AZLA, which look like a pair of horns. On the word BA’AMA (Bamidbar 35:5) is the rare TROP known as KARNEI PARA, lit. COW’S HORNS.
Winners report elsewhere.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] 502-633-6807, 770-920-3963, 850-626-0331...
[2] Bil’am said, “A barrel of lion”?
[3] Donald O'Connor, Alan Young, and...
[4] What Bil'am and the Shunamit did in common

ParshaPixPuzzle

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