PARSHA-PIX - Parshat Bamidbar

A special ParshaPixPuzzle Prize for the correct solution (first 3 received, CD album from Noam Productions. Submissions should be sent to tt@ou.org and "570ppp" should be put into the subject line. Submitters should include their Names and addresses for mailing of the prizes. Click on image for enlargement

Parsha Pix
Upper-right is a desert scene, to set the tone for the sedra and book of Bamidbar.
The major component of the PP is/are the flags - 12 of them - representing the flags of the tribes, as they camped and as they marched. The flags were not supposed to be facsimiles of the originals, just a representation of 12 flags. However, a few of them - the ones with the crown, flower, and fleur-de-lis - might be reasonable guesses.
We leave it to you to identify one specific flag. Find it and identify it. (PPP-1).
The compass stands for the different sides of the Mishkan the different groups camped.
The parking meter represents the encampments, since the modern Hebrew word for parking has the same root as to encamp.
The abacus is for the various countings.
The skull with the 5 on it comes from 3:47 in the portion of the exchange between firstborns and Leviyim (who were not themselves firstborns). We would say, 5 shekel a head.
In the lower-right there are three arrows. Not a hard one to get - if you pay attention to the Haftara (Machar Chodesh). if and when you use the ParshaPix to go over the sedra with your children and/or Shabbat guests, you should ask, “does anyone know what these three arrows are for?”
The spear is also from the haftara, as to the one wielded by Sha’ul HaMelech and interpreted by Yehonatan as a death-threat to David. Interesting how the spear and arrows represent opposites.

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 (B’CHUKOTAI) TTriddles:
[1] three fifths, one half, three fifths, two thirds
[2] 100 + 100 does not equal 200
[3[ Alphabetized from Efrayim to Shimon, thistribe is text-equivalent to Maasar* B’heima (* Thank you, JL)
[4] This TTriddle is not on Parshat HaShavua: 13.2, 28.6, 8.7
[5] My fields’ anagram is one of its results
[6] After Torah Reading and after each Shabbat Seuda
[7] Last singular, eighth plural

And the envelope please...
Well, it seems from the number of correct solvers, that most of these TTriddles were on the easy or obvious side, while the one that was marked as not being on Parshat HaShavua was too difficult without some kind of hint. We’ll get there.
[1] The four fractions in this TTriddle are the ratios of the ERECH of female to male in the four age ranges mentioned in the sedra, in age order from young to old. In the one month to five years old category, the ERECH of a female is 3 shekels and for a male is 5 - that’s 3/5. 5-20 years is 10 and 20 shekels, giving a ratio of 1/2. 20-60 is 30 and 50, again 3/5, and finally, the over 60 crowd at 10 and 15 or 2/3.
[2] This one was kind of simple. No hidden or deep meaning. Just simply that the Torah uses the words ME’A U’MEI’A, a hundred and a hundred. Usually, 100+100=200. But not this time, since the words are combined by breaking the pasuk into phrases in the wrong way. The Torah was talking about our power over our enemies - if we keep the mitzvot - that 5 would be able to chase away 100 and 100 (there’s the 100+100) will repel 10,000.
[3] Now here’s one that many people almost got, but not quite. On a TTriddles level, that is. Had the tribes been referred to without an indication as to who is and isn’t on the list, this would have been an ambiguous TTriddle. Purposely mentioning Efrayim, though, was meant to fix Efrayim and Menashe on the list, and not Levi or Yosef. Most who “solved” this TTriddle claimed Naftali as the solution because he is the tenth Shevet on the list, and the wording in the pasuk (27:32) - again, if phrases are broken up incorrectly - ...HASHEVET HA’ASIRI... the tenth tribe. However, the words actually read TACHAT HASHEVET Ha’ASIRI, which means beneath the tenth tribe. Reuven holds that position in the alphabetical list, and was the “official” solution to this TTriddle.
[4] We’ll get back to this one later.
[5] My fields in Hebrew is SADAI, SIN-DALET-YUD. Rearrange the letters to spell DAYISH, DALET-YUD- SHIN, which refers to the threshing season of the grain harvest, one of the “results” of the fields.
[6] After the Torah reading is the Haftara and after each Shabbat meal (actually, after every meal) is Birkat HaMazon. The common factor is the pasuk, BARCH HAGEVER ASHER YIVTACH...
[7] This TTriddle was also from the Haftara. The LAST pasuk begins with R’FA-EINI HASHEM V’EIRAFEI - heal me HaShem and I will be heals. Singlar. In the 8th bracha of the weekday Amida, the same wording is in the plural, R’FA-EINU HASHEM V’NEIRAFEI...
[4] Back to the one not on Parshat HaShavua. EB worked off some of his frustration at not being able to crack this TTriddle by suggesting several fun answers. (a) the number of degrees below the horizon the sun must descend for STARS-OUT (TZEIT HAKOCHAVIM) according to three major opinions. No, that’s not it. (b) the average temperature in May in London, Jerusalem, and Johannesburg. Celsius, of course. No, I don’t think so. (c) the average number of minutes it takes to solve a difficult, very difficult, and fairly easy TTriddle, respectively. Strike three. But thanks for the smiles, EB. DM had a different suggestion. The dates of my daughters’ birthdays. No, that’s not it either, but let’s take DM’s attempt as a hint. We’ll roll this TTriddle over for another week. Since it does not have anything to do with the sedra, why not?

This week's TTriddles:
[1] The regular haftara of Bamidbar is preempted by Machar Chodesh. Yet this “new” haftara is wordly linked to the sedra, as well. How?
[2] Maybe Zevulun should have been in Efrayim's camp
[3] Mebane, Pittsboro, Ruffin, Semora, Star, Troy, Yanceyville - among others
[4] As head of his Shevet, he just missed by one
[5] Among the Tribal leaders: The first, the first, and the first.
[6] 4.2 and 2.11 a few times
[7] Is Kehati a Yemenite?
[8] What color's the tablecloth?

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