PARSHA-PIX - Parshat B'chukotai

Parsha Pix
IM B'CHUKOTAI TEILEICHU - If you follow G-d's laws... then we will receive our rain in the proper time (hourglass) and we will have bread to eat... and we will have peace... And 5 will be able to repel 100 (of our enemies) and 100 will push away 10,000.
If, on the other hand, we don't follow in G-d's ways... the skull and crossbones represents all the negative things that we are warned about in the Tochacha.
A boy between the ages of one month and five years is "evaluated" at five shkalim (for purposes of donations to the Beit HaMikdash).
Nine new-born lambs are counted off as they walk single-file through an opening in the pen into which they were gathered. The tenth on to pass "under the staff" is sacred - MAASER B'HEIMA.
This mitzva is depicted again in symbols - with an additional detail. There are three Zodiac symbols in the picture - Aries, the Ram and Capricorn, the goat are added together and then divided by 10. Sheep and goats are both called TZON and may be combined for the mitzva of Maaser B'heima. Cows must be treated separately, hence Taurus, the Bull divided by 10 is separate.

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’HAR) TTriddles:
[1] 14th for the K'tiv; 15th for the K'ri
[2] 7x in Chumash, all B'har. Her sons are sound alikes ...and several more without a VAV (not all in B'har)
[3] ...in Lianyungang, Yancheng and Hui’an city in northern Jiangsu province climbed sharply ...quality japonica ...1800-1820RMB per ton. In the regional market in Yancheng, the ex-warehouse... special 1 premium quality...
[4] Plus an unasked TTriddle!

And the envelope please...
Not only were there fewer TTriddles than we’ve had lately, but there are a few problems with them. Still, we’ve received some successful solutions. Let’s have a look...
[1] This one is a good, solid, totally solvable TTriddle - that was solved be a few solvers. The interesting K’RI-K’TIV in the sedra is the word LO, written LAMED-ALEF and read LAMED-VAV. This is interesting for two reasons (at least). First, we pronounce LO (no) and LO (to it) the same. Second, the meaning of the two versions of the word are complete opposites. As written, the pasuk would be speaking about a city that has no wall around it. With the tradition of how the word is to be read (and understood), the pasuk is talking about a walled city. And that, by the way, is the solution to the TTriddle. With the written meaning, Megilat Esther would be read on the 14th of Adar. But the way we read it, Megila is on the 15th. At least two solvers had such complicated attempts, based on the words LO and LO and many other KRI-KTIV situations. Just look at the phrase LO CHOMA and the solution should become obvious. Another BTW - EB says that someone told him that there is actually a difference in the way LAMED-ALEF and LAMED-VAV are pro- nounced. LAMED-ALEF would be LO. LAMED-VAV would have a W-ish ending LOW. Hard to explain. Try to imagine it. Add a slight W-ness to LO, but without creating a new syllable.
[2] The one is a combination of two separate TTriddles. The second part was an afterthought to make the first part more accurate. Let’s work backwards and so how it comes out. It started with a computer search for the word YOVEL in Tanach. First search was for YUD-VAV-BET-LAMED. The results showed three YOVELs in B’har and YUVAL in B’reishit. There was the beginning of a TTriddle. (Decision was to ignore the other seven YOVELs in the rest of Tanach.) Then the seach was broadened to include YOVELs with a lead “helper” letter. That added four HAYOVELs. That’s why the first part of the TTriddle said “seven times in Chumash”. The mistake is that only 6 of the 7 are in B’har; one of them is in B’chukotai. Then came a look at YUVAL in B’reishit and the realization that TWO of ADA’s sons were sound-alikes for YOVEL - Yuval and Yaval. But since YAVAL is spelled YUD-VET-LAMED, a search was made for YOVEL spelled without a VAV, too. That lead to the addition of “and several more without a VAV...” So the only real mess up was not realizing that one of the YOVELs (with a VAV) was from B’chukotai and not B’har. Nonetheless, several solvers got the correct answer, which was ADA.
[3] As long and stretched out as this TTriddle was, it was fairly obvious. We’ve done a TTriddle with the same answer many times, so we needed a different way to ask. Some who solved it, figured it out (or guessed) just by looking at the wording. Others used the internet for help. The cities and province mentioned are all in China. That mislead some would-be solvers in the direction of SIN (Hebrew for China) and Har Sinai. Others took it as sin, as in violation of commandments. This they added to the agricultural flavor of the TTriddle and came up with violations of the laws of Sh’mita. Nice try. In fact, combining both wrong directions can bring you to the correct answer. The keys to the solution are to recognize China in the TTriddle, and “price” (RMB is the symbol for the currency in China), and RICE, of which japonica is a variety. This gives you that the TTriddle was talking about the price of rice in China. “What does that have to do with the price of rice (some say tea) in China?” is the English equivalent of the famous “What is the issue of Sh’mita doing with Har Sinai?.
[4] Now for the unasked TTriddle. I thought for sure someone would find it, ask it, and answer it. Oh well. The question is, what was the significance of the choice the subject of the MRMH column? The answer is that the DODO is mentioned twice in B’har - O DODO O VEN DODO... (Vayika 25:46)

This week's TTriddles:
[1] three fifths, one half, three fifths, two thirds
[2] 100 + 100 does not equal 200
[3] Alphabetized from Efrayim to Shimon,this tribe is text-equivalent to Maaser B’heima
[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

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