PARSHA-PIX Parshat Balak

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Parsha Pix
Upper left is from one of the first ParshaPixPuzzles. There is a BLOCK (sounds like BALAK) in a nest, which makes it BLOCK BEN TZIPOR.
Moving to the right, we find a globe wearing an eye patch. Balak said that Israel was so numerous that we covered EIN HAARETZ, the eye of the Earth.
Next, the messengers from Moav came to Bil'am with K'SAMIM B'YADAM, represented by the magic trick in the hand.
Bil'am's donkey saw the sword drawn in the angel's hand; Bil'am did not see it at first (or second or third).
Second row, left. When the donkey talks to Bil'am, she asks him why he has hit her these three REGALIM, times. Using the word that refers to our cycle of holidays and to the People who observe them. The angel repeats the reference to SHALOSH REGALIM. The speech-bubble for the donkey contains the question (mark) about the three festivals, represented by the Lulav, Matza, and Torah.
To the right we find a Chicago basketball player, one of the BULLS and a St. Louis football player, one of the RAMS. Bulls and rams , 7 of each, were repeatedly offered as sacrifices to G-d by Bil’am and Balak. We suggest that you try to get this out of your kids rather than giving it away to them. (That is, if they follow American sports. Otherwise, teach them.)
The lion cub was one of the ways that Bil'am described the Jewish People.
Third row, left. No comment (PPP).
Clapping hands - a representation of Balak striking his hands together in disgust at Bil’am’s repeated failure to do as requested. VAYISPOK. A unique word in Tanach, appearing no where else.
The number seven is very prominent in the sedra. Seven altars, seven bulls and seven rams as sacrifices. Again and again.
The Xed out snake is also from Bil'am's words, that there is no NACHASH in Yaakov. His meaning is that we do not rely on omens.
Next row down. A drawing of an actor and a photo of an actress. Hard to make out in the hard copy. Sorry. Easier on the website, especially if you click to enlarge the ParshaPix. Color helps too. In any event, they are also a PPP, a.k.a. graphic TTriddle.
Photo of the Fort Knox repository of gold bullion. Represents the “house filled with gold and silver” that Bil’am told Balak if he offered to him, he still would not be able to violate G-d’s commands.
Bottom row, left. A shul. Reminding us of the famous MA TOVU OHALECHA YAAKOV...
And at the bottom right we have a ROMACH, the spear that Pinchas used to protect G-d’s honor.
Worthy of repetition is something Zev Frank of Arutz-7 discovered. ROMACH, spelled in the Torah REISH-MEM-CHET (no VAV) is numerically equivalent to 248, which immediately brings to mind the number of positive mitzvot in the Torah. Pinchas armed himself with the RAMACH (248) mitzvot in his righteous defense of G-d's honor. But Zev did not stop there. What about the prohibitions in the Torah? There are 365 of them. If we count just the prohibitions, starting from GID HANASHE and follow the count of the Sefer HaChinuch through the sedras, we come to an amazing discovery. The 248th prohibition in the Torah is at the end of Va'etchanan, and it is the prohibition of intermarriage and of taking a woman from the other nations. Exactly the sin that Zimri was guilty of. So Pinchas not only armed himself with a physical weapon, and not only did he have the 248 positive mitzvot guiding him, but he also had a numeric match to the one major prohibition in question.
Use this ParshaPix well with your children and Shabbat guests. Have fun... and learn well.

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 presented for call-in solution on Torah Tidbits Audio (Arutz-7, Thursday night). The best solution set submitted each week (there isn't always a best) wins a double prize a CD from Noam Productions and/or a gift (game, puzzle, book, etc.) from Big Deal

Last issue’s (CHUKAT) TTriddles:
[1] This time Rashi probably agrees with Onkeles
[2] Korbanot, Nega'im, Death
[3] Who first found the liquid component of the potion
[4] Yiftach, Yarav’am, Naaman, Bo’az, Tzadok, Elyada,and thousands more ...and whose father?
[5] It's between 240 and 180

And the envelope please...
[1] When Yaakov send MAL’ACHIM to his brother to Eisav, Rashi comments: “Actual angels”. This opinion differs with Targum Onkeles, who renders MAL’ACHIM as IZGADIN, which means messengers. In Parshat Chukat, the Torah tells us that Moshe sent MAL’ACHIM twice - once to the people of Edom and once to Sichon, king of Emori. In both cases, the purpose was to ask permission to pass through the territory of the respective people. In neither case does Rashi offer an alterative meaning for MAL’ACHIM; he apparently agrees with Onkeles and goes for the plain contextual meaning of “messengers”. It is interesting to note that in Moshe’s message to Edom, he says that G-d sent a MAL’ACH and he took us out of Egypt. In this context, MAL’ACH is rendered MAL’ACHA by Onkeles. Whether this means an angel or not, Rashi states that it is a reference to Moshe. Rashi further states that prophets are sometimes called MAL’ACHIM.
[2] The answer to this TTriddle is ZOT HATORAH. This is the Torah... The phrase appears only three times in the Torah. The first time is in context of korbanot, mentioning Olah, Mincha, Chatat, Asham, Milu’im, and Sh’lamim. The next occurrence is con- cerning “Nega Tzora’at and Netek, Tzoraat of garments and of houses, and more. The third time is in Chukat, about a person dying in a tent (any enclosure). The phrase makes on other appearance with a lead VAV, as in the famous V’ZOT HATORAH... Once we include in the search the words ZOT TORAT something... we find 12 more occurrences, and another 5 for V’ZOT TORAT... But only thrice for ZOT HATORAH.
[3] Besides the ashes of the Para Aduma, the main ingredient of the “Lustral Water”, a.k.a. MEI CHATAT, a.k.a. MEI NIDA, is MAYIM CHAYIM, water from a live stream. The Torah tells us that the servants of Yitzchak Avinu dug for water after the P’lishtim had filled in the wells dug in the time of Avraham, and that they “found Mayim Chayim”.
[4] GIBOR CHAYIL. Mighty warrior. Or something like that. This is a TTriddle from the haftara, since Yiftach is called a Gibor Chayil in the first pasuk of the haftara. The names in the TTriddle are people who are identified as Gibor Chayil in the Tanach. In addition, the term is used in Tanach for nameless thousands of warriors. The one person left out of the TTriddle is KISH, father of Sha’ul HaMelech. SHA’UL, therefore, is the correct solution to the TTriddle.
[5] 240 is a triple PEI (3 x 80 = 240) , as is printed in Chumashing at the end of most sedras. What it actually means is that the next sedra begins with a Parsha P’tucha. But it is printed at the end of a sedra to indicate that the sedra ended and the rest of the line in a Sefer Torah is left blank until the end of the line. 180 is triple-SAMACH (3 x 60 = 180). This is the other thing that we find printed at the end of some sedras. It indicates that the next sedra begins with a Parsha S’tuma. What it actually is meant to indicate is that the sedra finishes, a blank space is left and the next sedra begins on the same line as the current sedra ended. CHUKAT is between 240 and 180, in other words, Chukat begins with a Parsha P’tucha and the next sedra Balak begins with a Parsha S’tuma. Interesting to note that Balak is the only sedra of the Book of Bamidbar to begin with a Parsha S’tuma. That links it more with the preceding parsha than a sedra would be that begins with a P’tucha. Could this be the reason that it is the combining of Chukat and Balak that is used in Chutz LaAretz as the catch-up reading (this week) to bring Parshat HaShavua back into sync, out of which it has been since the Shabbat after Shavuot (which was the second day of Shavuot in Chutz LaAretz). BTW, To’l’dot, Mikeitz, Bo, T’rumah, Ki Tisa, Tzav, and Eikev are the other sedras that are between 240 and 180. (Or perhaps we should have said, between 25 and 50, referring to points in the old game of “Chumash”.)

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Balak to Bil'am to the Arnon River and Yoshiyahu to whom (and for what purpose)
[2] He's one before the finish
[3] He and the one he contains are each previewed
[4] His father is continuously confused
[5] plus three items from the ParshaPix which are really two

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