PARSHA-PIX - D'varim
Parsha Pix
At the top is a speech-bubble which contains the main elements of what
Moshe said to the People. He told them about the travels from Egypt to
Eretz Yisrael and what happened during those travels, of the victories of
the People in several battles they fought (that's the V for victory hand
signal), and about Torah and Mitzvot that are the essence of Jewish Life.
The judge's gavel flanked (above & below)
by two negation circles, relates to the mitzvot in the sedra, against
appointing judges for the wrong reasons - not because of wealth, nor out of
fear or threats. Also, a judge may not be afraid of threats (e.g. the gun).
The arrows indicating DO NOT ENTER to the
right and the left, but only straightahead, stands for the two instances, as
related by Moshe, that we approached nations for permission to pass through
their land.
The graphic of the spies carrying the
cluster of grapes stands for one of the major elements in the sedra.
There are also two former PPP types of
graphic elements, this time to be explained.
The ghost with the San Francisco Giants
logo is a play on the pasuk (2:11), The REFA’IM (ghosts in modern Hebrew;
warriors or mighty people in the Biblical context) can be considered giants
(or vice versa).
The Roman numerals represent the
different “units” of Jews, with their “captains” - thousand, hundred, fifty,
and ten.
And that leaves us with the silhouettes
of the bull and donkey. They are from the pasuk at the beginning of the
Haftara in which the prophet contasts us unfavorably with the animals. The
bull knows his master and the donkey, his feeding trough. We Jews, human
beings, seem to have difficulty in this regard. How can we turn our backs on
G-d; how can we disobey Him so, when He is our Master and the source of all
sustenance. "Dumb" animals "know" this, but we seem to lose sight of things
every so often.
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 (MATOT-MAS’EI) TTriddles:
[1] They went to Australia to visit grandfather
[2] Ashkenazis pronounciation relates the two
[3] 7 of 10 of 12 share 2 special letters
[4] The first is a window-fogger
[5] Although it worked okay in the sedra, this kind of thing is usually not
a good idea. Hebrew and Aramaic indicate this semantically.
And the envelope please...
[1] This referred to two of the places mentioned in the “travelog” at the
beginning of Mas’ei — TACHAT (as in down under, a.k.a. Australia) and TERACH,
father of Avraham Avinu (which sort of makes him a grandfather).
[2] If you pronounce the name of the first of the double sedra in Ashkenazis,
it comes out MATOS, which is an airplane, thus related to MAS’EI as a means
of transportation.
[3] 7 of the 10 N’SI’IM (tribal leaders) listed, of the 12 tribes (Reuven
and Gad are not listed because they received their land on the east side of
the Jordan, and this list of N’SI’Im min the sedra was of those who would
help in the distribution of Eretz Yisrael are conquest). Seven N’SI’IM —
Shmuel, Elidad, Chaiel, K’muel, Elitzafan, Paltiel, and P’dah’el — share the
two special letters ALEF and LAMED, which spell one of G-d’s names. The
other three N’SI’IM (to give them mention too) are KALEV, BUKI, and ACHIHUD.
[4] The first ALIYA in Parshat Matot is a window- fogger because it contains
35 MAPIK-HEIs (within 12 of its p’sukim). If a Baal Korei reads them
correctly - and especially if he exaggerates then a bit, the windows of the
shul — or at least the eyeglasses of the OLEH and the GABBAI, should get
pretty fogged up.
[5] Whereas most TTriddles are fun, plays-on-words and the like, this one is
a seriouus one. Revenge is something we are generally forbidden to take. A
notable exception is when G-d commands it, as He did with the battle against
Midyan. G-d commands Moshe to avenge the REVENGE of Bnei Yisrael from the
Midyanites... (Bamidbar 31:2). NIKMAT, the revenge of, is translated by
Onkeles as PUR’A-NUT, which in Hebrew means calamity, tribuations. This war
of revenge is okay, because G-d commanded it, but take a warning from the
Targum, that revenge is generally ill-fated.
That leaves 4 elements in the ParshaPix (last week we said there were 3, but
there are 4) that were not explained in the PP explanations on page 10 & 35,
which serve as further riddles, formerly, and sometimes still, known as PPP.
If you start with the Pyramids and follow the first leg of the travels, you
arrive at a lulav & etrog which represts Sukkot. That was the easy one.
Further along the path of arrows is the logo with the palm trees and what
looks like an orange ball or an orange under the branches and in the crook
of the U formed by the bases of the two palms. That is the logo of Yotvata,
the kibbutz and the dairy company. If you identified the logo, then this PPP
was also easy. Yotvata was one of the places of encampment mentioned in the
travelog at the beginning of Mas’ei. If you didn’t identify it, I imagine
that this PPP would be impossible to solve.
Then, towards the upper-right, is a cow with prominent horns, standing for
that very rare TROP note KARNEI PARA, which graces the word BA’AMA in 35:5.
Some reader will correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the only KARNEI PARA
in the CHUMASH. And it follows the only YERECH BEN YOMO. If so, it is far
rarer than the more famous SHALSHELET.
And finally we come to the image of a coin below the sword and above the map
outline of Israel. The coin bears the image of George Washington and is
fairly easy to identify as a quarter. That’s 25¢, one fourth of a dollar.
One fourth in Hebrew is REVA, one of the five kings killed in the Midyan
Battle.
OOPS... There was another PP element that went unexplained, but not
intentionally. The Chatan & Kalla times 5 refers to the marriages of the
daughters of Tzelafchad. DM pointed that one out.
And the winner is...
Maybe DM, who submitted a good enough solution set to win, but left enough
room for someone to beat him out of top honors. We will see. Partial
received from MM/Bklyn and several other solvers, but DM is hereby declared
this week’s winner. Drop in at the Center to pick up your prizes.
This week's TTriddles:
[1] Demo, punishment, atonement, - like what?
[2] Two others besides Yeshayahu
[3] Dig it! They did... and didn’t
[4] Who attempted to give the date another significance?
[5] Will Moshe be teaching Hebrew or Aramaic?
[6] Verb verb adverb-pronoun, now & +21d. What & what?
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