PARSHA-PIX - Eikev
Parsha Pix
Dvarim 8:8 presents us with the famous list of the Seven Species. Wheat is
the one at the upper left. Barley is between the martini and the grenade.
You can't miss the grapes. Pomegranate is represented by the hand grenade,
known as a RIMON in Hebrew. Rimon is a pomegranate. (Interesting that a
granade is nicknamed pineapple in English.) The olive is in the martini
glass, and there is a date (the 31st) on the calendar in the upper right
corner. Something’s missing. Not really. You FIGure it out.
The Land is also described as being a land whose rocks are iron (Fe on the
piece of rock), and from whose mountains you can extract copper. That's
the penny on the hill.
It is in Parshat Eikev that Moshe recounts for the people the story of the
Golden Calf, the breaking of the Luchot, and the second Luchot. A little
below the center of the PP is a pair of stone tablets and in the lower
left is Davka Judaic ClipArt’s sceen of the Golden Calf.
The second passage of the Sh'ma is in Eikev. It contains the mitzva of
Mezuza (and is written on the Mezuza parchment) and a reminder of the
"deal" we have with G-d. If we listen to the Mitzvot (preserve them, keep
them, practice them), then we will receive rainfall in its proper time.
That's the cloud with drops of rain. But if we don't observe and preserve
the mitzvot, then G-d will "lock" the heavens and there will not (G-d
forbid) be rainfall, and the ground will not give up its bounty, and we
will be lost...
The elephat is a reminder (because elephants never forget) of the many
times (in this sedra and else- where) that the Torah commands us to
remember and warns us never to forget.
The photo above the raincloud is of a spider wasp, representing the TZIR’A
that G-d will send against our enemies. (FYI, there are around 75,000
species of wasps, of which there are 4200 species of spider wasps, one of
which is shown in the ParshaPix.
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 alsopresentedfor 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’ETCHANAN) TTriddles:
[1] pre-open, pre-read, post-read
[2] The rare MON-THU phenomenon
plus two elements from the ParshaPix
And the envelope please...
[1] Many solved this TTriddle correctly (some did not). One of the
pre-open (the Aron) p’sukim - specifically, the first one in Nusach S’fad
and the one that Ashkenazim use, only on Simchat Torah, is from
Va’etchanan. Viz. Dvarim 4:35, ATA HOREITA LA- DA’AT... The pre-read pasuk
is also from Va’et- chanan, Dvarim 4:4, V’ATEM HAD’VEIKIM... This is the
pasuk that the Gabbai and congregation say right before the beginning of
Torah reading, after the Kohein is called to the Torah. And the post-read
pasuk, when the Torah is lifted, is D’varim 4:44, V’ZOT HATORAH...
[2] The rare MON-THU phenomenon refers to read- ing from the coming week’s
parsha, but not the same part. Usually, on Monday & Thursday mornings we
read the same first portion of the upcoming sedra. This year, during
Tish’a b’Av week, we read the first part of Va’etchanan on Monday morning,
as usual. But on Thursday morning, we read the special Tish’a b’Av
reading, which is also from Va’etchanan, but a different part. This
happens only when 9Av is on Thursday. (Happens 28.5% of the time.)
This same phenomenon happens when Taanit Esther is a Monday or Thursday
AND the upcoming Shabbat is Ki Tisa. (The Torah reading for a Fast Day
comes from Ki Tisa.) This happens 21.3% of the time. (18% of the years,
both MON-THU anomalies (bettter word than phenomenon) occur. It would also
happen if Rosh Chodesh Av could fall during the week of Parshat Pinchas.
But it never does. Same with Purim being during the week of B’shalach and
Chanuka being at Naso time. That doesn’t happen.
In the ParshaPix was a women with a clock face in her face. That would be
PANIM B’FANIM, the phrase used in Va’etchanan to describe the method of
com- munication between G-d and Moshe Rabeinu.
The numbers around the hand were correctly identified as the G’matriyas of
the names of the fingers: BOHEN (thumb), ETZBA (pointer), AMAH (middle
finger), K’MITZA (ring finger), and ZERET (pinky). Although several
solvers stated this correctly, none made the connection to Va’etchanan,
specifically the first pasuk of SH’MA, whose G’matriya is 1118, the same
as the total of the fingers of the hand that covers the eyes for Sh’ma.
In light of the information in the paragraph to the right, one wonders if
the G’matriya Match had anything to do with the HAMSA.
This week's TTriddles:
[1] 45+1=? • What AZBYed • letters (almost)
[2] Residue from 10 days earlier
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