PARSHA-PIX - B'har-B'chukotai

Parsha Pix

Top, center & right: The famous, "What does this have to do with the price of tea in China?" Why are Har Sinai & Shmita juxtaposed? On the right is Har Sinai with the Luchot HaBrit and to the left of the question mark is a negation circle with a guy planting a sapling.

The Liberty Bell in the upper left corner is inscribed with the English translation of part of Vayikra 25:10, Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof.

Under the bell is an abacus, for counting the years and Shmita-cycles of Yovel. It can also be used for calculating the remaining years to Yovel in order to fairly adjust the price of a piece of land.

That's a shofar under the abacus, to be blown on the Yom Kippur of Yovel year. In the middle of the Pix is a NOT FOR SALE sign. This is a command of the Torah which should be taken seriously today by our government and all the people of Israel. 

On the right side below Har Sinai, is a fellow taking money out of his wallet to lend to his fellow Jew, at 0% interest.

Below the wallet is a rain cloud giving rain in its proper time (hence the clock below the cloud). This is the Torah-stated reward for following G-d's laws and mitzvot.

So too is there a promise of peace in the Land, symbolized by the dove with the olive branch.

And we are promised that if we remain faithful to G-d, we will prevail over our enemies, and five will successfully chace away 100, and 100 will chase away 10,000 of them.

Perek 27 deals with pledges to the Mikdash that are made based on the ERECH of different people. In the silhouette in the lower-left corner are 50 shekel for an adult male, 30 for a female, 20 for a boy between 5-20 years old, and 5 or 3 shekel for a baby from a month old to 5 yrs. Since the sex of the baby in the picture is indeterminable, there is a question mark between the 3 and the 5.

And, bottom center & right is a depiction of MAASER B'HEIMA, where the tenth sheep (cow or goat) that passes under the rod is declared holy. See the sedra summary for more details.

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 (EMOR) TTriddles:

[1] Yosef's brothers, Aharon, Elazar, Kohanim, all of Bnei Yisrael, and 5 others. What & Who

[2] Separately for Yom Tov. Together for what, what, and what?

[3] 100 = the L of the M of the 7 D of S

[4] 61% done and NOW we hear it

And the envelope please...

[1] The quick answer is EMOR EL... Par’o said to Yosef, tell your brothers ... to come on down. G-d said to Moshe, several times, to tell Aharon to take the Staff and bring about a plague on Egypt. Moshe told Aharon to say to all the people that they should come closer to G-d Who has heard their call... G-d said to Moshe to say to the People that they are stiff-necked... Then in our sedra, G-d tells Moshe to say to the kohanim... And one more in Chumash, G-d tells Moshe to say to Elazar to lift the fire-pans... 

All of the above uses the phrase EMOR EL, say to... There are 5 other occurrences of the phrase in the rest of NACH. G-d told SH’MA’YA to say to R’CHAVAM the son of Shlomo..., say to ACHAV, say to the white- washers (Yechezkel 13), Par’o, Z’rubavel. This in addition to several more EMOR EL the people of Israel, the house of Israel, etc. And none of this counts AMAR EL, even though the spelling is the same. (Since the search programs for Tanach do not differentiate vowels, the list of sources for ALEF-MEM-REISH ALEF-LAMED had to by manually - i.e. visually - sifted.)

[2] The words SHABBAT and SHABBATON are each used (separately) in describing YOM TOV. SHABBAT for the first day of Pesach. SHABBATON for Rosh HaShana, first day of Sukkot, and Shmini Atzeret. Together, as in SHABBAT-SHABBATON, the phrase describes Yom Kippur (once), Sh’mita once, and Shabbat (four times!) - with the Manna, in Ki Tisa, Vayak-hel, and EMOR. (And if you’ll accept the GR”A’s opinion about the opening p’sukim of chapter 23, then the score for SHABBAT-SHABBATON is still 3-2 in favor of Shabbat. Otherwise, it’s 4-1.

[3] This is a TTriddle in the style of an old GAMES Magazine kind of puzzle. We’ll have to do more of these IY”H. 100 = the LAMBS of the MUSAFIM of the 7 DAYS of SUKKOT. That’s 14 each for 7 days, 98, plus two for the Shabbat during Sukkot. 

Here’s a few of this type of puzzle. Not related to the parsha, but Jewish (the original ones were general knowledge, e.g. 365 = D of the Y. 10 = A in the B of R.) • 3 = A that V A. • 8 = G of the KG. • 7 = H of HR and ST

[4] By the time we read Parshat Emor this year, we had counted 30 days of the Omer. That’s 61% of the counting done before we hear the command in the Torah to count.

This week's TTriddles:

[1] GAD and G'Di from teh pen-penultimate have something in common

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