PARSHA-PIX - Ki Teitzei

Parsha Pix
Very busy sedra this week. The ParshaPix can be used to go over the sedra with your children and/or Shabbat guests. There should be something for everyone. You can vary the level by the way you ask questions about the different elements in the PP. Many of the parts of this week’s ParshaPix relate to more than one component of the sedra.
Take the tank, for example, in the upper-left. Aside from the opening words of the sedra, When you go out to war against your enemy... there are several other mitzvot and parshiyot devoted to different aspects of battle.
The warning lights are just that: One’s obligation to prevent accidents from happening in his house by making appropriate repairs and construction necessary to avoid hazardous conditions.
The boot looks like an army boot, but here it stands for CHALITZA, the divorce-like ceremony that breaks the YIBUM situation.
The bird’s nest is for the mitzva of SHILU’ACH HAKEN. This mitzva alone can generate much discussion at the Shabbat table.
The couple under the CHUPA points to several mitzvot in the sedra.
The Pyramids remind us of our lives in Egypt and of the Exodus, both of which we are commanded to remember.
The toilet bowl alludes to the mitzva to keep a military camp clean by providing sanitary facilities. What is particularly noteworthy - and it is up to you to make the point with your family and guests - is that a toilet bowl can appear as part of a Parshat HaShavua and mitzva discussion.
The tree with the single apple reminds us not to pick of trees and fields bear, but rather to leave some produce for poor people.
The finger with the string tied around it is to remind us of the many reminders contained in the sedra - What happened to Miriam, Amalek, and more.
The gravestone is a reminder of the mitzva to bury our dead, and as soon as is feasible.
Donkey is another example of something that appears repeatedly in several contexts in this sedra. See how many you can find.
The uneven barbells stand for the prohibition of having (or using) unfair weights and measures.
The key is for KI TEITZEI and the many other KIs in the sedra.
The timeclock is for the mitzva to pay wages on time and for the other employer-employee mitzvot in the sedra.
One may not tie an aardvark and a goat together.
and the grogger is for Amalek at the end of the sedra.
It’s probably impossible to go over the sedra thoroughly in one sitting, but do some of it with your children for the best of Quality Time possible.

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 (SHO-F’TIM) TTriddles:
[1] Adam Schiff's domain
[2] Three identical sets of identical twins all from the same twenty-fourth
[3] The Chafetz Chayim's Four Questions
[4] Some of the HEIs text come from here
Plus two PPPs in the ParshaPix

And the envelope please...
[1] We’ve asked this one in the past in different forms. Adam Schiff is the character that Steven Hill played on the popular TV series Law & Order from 1990-2000. According the the information of www.imdb.com, he is one of very few Orthodox Jews in movies or TV. He was Peter Grave’s predecessor on the original Mission Impossible, which he left because they couldn’t/wouldn’t) accommodate his Shabbat observance. Oh, the TTriddle. Just this: Law & Order is a close approximation of SHO-F’TIM V’SHO-T’RIM.
[2] This one should have been worded better, but the answer is ANOCHI-ANOCHI, the pair of identical twins that open the Haftara of Sho-f’tim. Curiosity as to other occurrences (if any) of this word pair led to two others, also in Yeshayahu. With 24 books in Tanach, Yeshayahu is one of the 24th of Tanach. The Haftara seems to have more than a fair share of twin words: ANOCHIx2, HIT-O-R’RIx2, URIx2, SURUx2.
[3] A personal favorite. I got excited when this one fell in my lap. This page is being written on Motza’ei Shabbat, so I don’t know if anyone will solve it, but I hope so. It’s too nice to not be solved by someone. After the Kohen-Chaplain speaks to the gathered potential soldiers, the Sho-t’rim ask them four questions: if anyone has built a new house, or planted a new vineyard, or betrothed a woman - that’s three - let them return home... And then they added a fourth question aboput people who might be “weak-hearted”. Rashi tells us that R’ Akiva interpreted this as someone who would not be able to handle the rigors of battle. R’ Yosi HaGalili says it refers to people who fear that their sins will cause them to fall in battle. Rashi adds that this is why the sinner returns together with the other three types who are exempt from battle, so he will not be embarrassed. And here’s why the TTriddle refers to these as the Chafetz Chayim’s Four Questions. They each start with MI HA-ISH (or U’MI HA-ISH). As in MI HA-ISH HE- CHAFETZ CHAYIM...
[4] This was a reference to the texts of the two stanzas of L’CHA DODI that begin with the letter HEI, much of which comes from the Haftara of SHO-F’TIM.

In the ParshaPix, there are two elements that were not explained with all the other parts of the ParshaPix. They became part of the TTriddle set.
First are the three chess knights of the same color. Since each player in chess gets two knights (a.k.a. horses), three is an excess of horses - something forbidden to a king of Israel.
And then we have the string of single digits with one of them missing. If we call the numbers by their Yiddish names, the string of numbers represents NO FEAR, referring to the prohibition of fearing a false prophet and not bringing him up on charges before the Sanhedrin because of that fear.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Who to whom and to whom & who?
[2] Impossible to have kavana for it
[3] Uncle-nephew, no. Father-son, yes. Brother-brother, no. Brothers, yes.Vicuna-chamois, no.
[4] The literal of the figurative from K'doshim is in Ki Teitzei
[5] Piano, Florida, Alan, and...

[The Ki Teitzei Homepage]
[The TORAH tidbits Homepage] [How to use TORAH tidbits]
[About The OU/NCSY Israel Center] [About TORAH tidbits]