PARSHA-PIX - Bo

ParshaPix

A busy ParshaPix for a busy sedra. The old one upgraded with a sprinkling of PPP-like challenges. Consider what is not explained here as a PPP-challenge

BO, whose G'matriya is 3, has the three last plagues, represnted here by the locust, the black rectangle, and the sword. There are two ways of looking at MAKAT B'CHOROT. The standard way is that the 10th and final plague was the smiting of the first-borns. This fits the name of the plague - all the others have the name of that which plagued Egypt, blood, frogs, lice, etc. Only the 10th is called MAKAT B'CHOROT (as opposed to B'CHOROT), because the first borns were not the plague, they were the victims of the plague. On the other hand, there is an opinion that they were the plague. Or, shall we say, they were the first part of the plague. They died. But before that, say our sources, they took up sword and killed many Egyptians. They were angry and upset (to put it mildly) that this Moshe person was threatening in G-d's name to kill the first borns of Egypt and Par'o seemed to be resisting. That thought did not make them happy, loyal Egyptians. This idea fits with the words in T'hilim 136 - L'MAKEI MITZRAYIM (for smiting Egypt) BIVCHOREIHEM (WITH their first borns). It does not say "their first borns", but rather "WITH their first borns". It also fits with the mnemonic device that is quoted in the Hagada in the name of Rabbi Yehuda - D'TZACH ADASH BA'ACHAV - the initials of the 10 plagues. The last one is a BET for B'CHORIM, not MAKAT B'CHORIM. Just as lice and wild animals, hail and locust were plagues, so were the first borns of the Egyptians.

The Yo-Yo in the upper-left is an apt image for Par'o's treatment of Moshe and Aharon - get out, come back to me, leave and don't let me see your face again, quickly come to me...

The clock shows "around 12:00", not at exactly midnight. G-d said to Moshe that He will act at exactly midnight. Moshe transmitted this message to the people as KACHATZOT, around midnight, so that people should not jump to foolishly wrong conclusions about G-d based on their inexact reading of the time.

The lamb in the doorway stands for the Korban Pesach, which was taken into the home and whose blood was smeared on the doorposts.

Matza is Matza. And T'filin are T'filin.

The dog is barking - unlike his counterparts in the Jewish areas of Egypt on the night of Makat B'chorot.

In the lower right is a bow - for Parshat BO.

The baby, goat, and donkey represent the three different types of B'CHOR in Jewish law.

That leaves a few items unexplained. That's your job. I should tell you this, but I will. The BO at the upper-right is not for the name of the sedra. It only looks that way. It is (oops, I'm not supposed to tell you that).

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 (VA'EIRA) TTriddles: 

[1] He's named for his great (how many) grandfather 

[2] Hard TTriddle. For veteran solvers only • His brothers are a confused Endopiza vitana Clemens 

[3] Created two or four brachot 

[4] Va'eira grandfather & grandson and who else? 

[5] 3 previews; two exact, one close 

[6] How many brothers, sisters, mothers, uncles from 16 to 25? 

And the envelope please... 

[1] Reuven's son CHANOCH has the same name as his great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- grand-father CHANOCH. (That's 15 greats - 17 generations, 18 if you count both CHANOCHs.) 

[2] This TTriddle was labeled "Hard - for veteran solvers only" to ease my conscience about it. Although many TTriddles are the product of a mind with a special warp, this one was unusually difficult. Or so I thought. RHM didn't seem to have any trouble with it. I was as thrilled and delighted that someone solved it, as I was surprised that someone did indeed solve it. Endopiza vitana Clemens, as everyone well knows, is a species of moth that attacks the grape berry. A real pest for grape growers. You shouldn't know from it. It is a grape insect, or in Hebrew, a CHARAK GEFEN. Confused is a trigger-word for an anagram, a mix-up of the letters of a word. CHARAK rearranges to spell KORACH. And GEFEN's letters mix to spell NEFEG. Two of the three sons of YITZHAR, Amram's brother. Therefore, the one whose brothers are a confused grape-insect is ZICHRI. CD to RHM even if she doesn't win this week's double prize (which she probably will). 

[3] Back to the easy kind of TTriddle. The Four Terms of Redemption from the beginning of the sedra created (sort of) the four cups of wine at the Pesach Seder. These four cups, in turn, created either the four brachot that Ashkenazim say on the 4 cups, or the two brachot that S'faradim say (on the 1st and the 3rd only). S'faradim hold that the bracha from the first covers the second because there is nothing that breaks the KAVANA from the first to the second cup. Similarly, for the 3rd and 4th cup. Ashkenazim hold that since each cup is drunk on its own mitzva, each one gets its own Borei Pri HaGafen. (Kiddush, Hagada, Birkat HaMazon, and Hallel.) 

[4] The grandfather and grandson referred to in this TTriddle are LEVI and AMRAM who both lived to the age of 137, as recorded in Va'eira. Who else lived 137 years? Yishma'el. 

[5] Va'eira contains three previews of the upcoming sedra (that is, this week's sedra, BO). Twice we find the phrase BO EL PAR'O, come to Par'o. Those are the "exact" previews. And then there is

one BO DABEIR EL PAR'O, come and speak to Par'o. The only other answer I received which qualifies as a PREVIEW is the statement of Moshe that MACHAR - tomorrow will be this SIGN, HA'OT HAZEH, and words to that effect. 

[6] This one is not really a TTriddle, but a straightforward , fun question (for those who like these kind of questions). Of course, I was hoping to confuse some people into thinking that from 16 to 25 referred to age rather than the p'sukim in perek VAV (chapter 6). Definition of a brother is a person who has at least one brother or sister mentioned in the range of p'sukim. Levi certainly was a brother, but noe of his brothers are mentioned in these verses - therefore, he is not counted as a brother. Levi's three sons are mentioned, each one is a brother (to the other two). That's 3. There are 8 grandons of Levi mentioned, and each one has at least one brother (also mentioned). That's 11. Aharon and Moshe make 13. Yitzhar's three sons and Uziel's two make 18. Nachson is a brother to Elisheva. that's 19. Aharon's 4 sons and Korach's 3 give us a total of 26 brothers in the range of p'sukim. Yocheved is mentioned - she is sister to Gershon , K'hat, and M'rari. Elisheva is sister to Nachshon. That's it. 2 sisters. Yocheved and Elisheva both have sons mentioned, as does the unnamed daughter (or granddaughter) of PUTI'EL (a.k.a. Yitro, and other names). She was the mother of Pinchas, so if we count her, there are 3 mothers. Levi's 3 sons all have nephews named, so that starts us with 3 uncles. Kehat's 4 sons are all uncles to people named in the p'sukim. That's 7 uncles so far. Moshe was an uncle to Aharon's sons (but Moshe's sons are not mentioned here, so Aharon does not count as an uncle.) That's 8. Nachson is also an uncle to Aharon's 4 sons. 9. Korach's sons are mentioned, which makes NEFEG and ZICHRI uncles. 11. And with mention of Pinchas, Elazar's three brothers are countable as uncles. That makes 14 uncles. 

So what? Nothing. Just fun. And a suggestion with many variations to ask your children and Shabbat guests. Choose a different set of p'sukim, different relations, and ask away. Good for competition. 

The unexplained part of last week's ParshaPix was considered a PPP. Someone almost got this too. But not quite. The graphic can be read as LO (negation circle) MAY 2, as in UV'NEI KORACH LO MEITU, Korach's sons did not die when Korach, Datan & Aviram and their gang died. They were even honored by 11 of the 150 Psalms in T'hilim. Even though it is not mentioned in Va'eira that they didn't die, the solution to the PPP is still ASIR, ELKANA, and AVIASAF, the sons of Korach who LO MAY 2. 

This week's TTriddles:

[1] 1, 2, and 3 are 12 or 13, 14, and 15 respectively 

[2] A wind, a sound, and an illness 

[3] Avraham,Yishmael, Yosef, Moshe, David, Shaul, ?,?,?

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