PARSHA-PIX - Parshat B'shalach

Parsha Pix
Upper-left are the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night.
Below them is the Davka Judaica Clipart scene of the splitting of the sea.
The tambourine in the middle is TOF MIRIAM.
The tire with a blow out represents the wheels of the Egyptian chariots that fell off and caused the chariots to become bogged down in the sea bed. Part of the destruction of Egypt took place when their supreme arrogance turned to shock and panic when the wheels came off the chariots. Soon there- after, the waters of the Sea drowned them, but the demoralizing effect of the wheel-losing was part of their punishment.
Upper-right is the water coming from a rock that Moshe struck with the Staff.
The bird under the stream of water is a quail, as in quail - S’LAV, that preceded the MAHN.
The two challot to the left of the quail is LECHEM MISHNEH, which commemorates the double portion of MAHN that fell on Friday in order to provide for Shabbat. We not only use double challot on Shabbat to remember the MAHN, but we cover them top and bottom to remind us of the two layers of dew that protected the MAHN. The MAHN was our introduction to Shabbat. See the candle sticks top-center.
The worm ate the left over MAHN - there should not have been any.
Three facets of the battle against Amalek (bottom-left & center): Moshe's upraised hands, Yehoshua's sword, and the pen with which the account of the battle was written down.
Lower right is the representations of the Haftara. The singing bee is Dvora. Thunderbolt = BARAK, Devorah's associate. Milk that Yael gave to Sisra, and the tent peg with which she killed him when he fell asleep.
The piece of a brick wall represents the brick pattern of words in the Torah for AZ YASHIR.
That leaves an easy PPP.

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 week’s (BO) TTriddles:
[1] Post-Amida ultimate opener
[2] Who compared us to which plague?
[3] Four pair of two-letter opposites— who to whom?
[4] HaShem, Shimshon, and Boaz. When?
[5] This Purim-Pesach connection is really a Pesach-Pesach connection
[6] It brought salvation for one, devestation for another, peril for a prophet
Plus... 3 elements from the ParshaPix on page 3 (the ones not explained on page 31).

And the envelope please...
[1] Post Amida is Tachanun. The ultimate refers to the final paragraph. Its opener are the words it begins with, specifically - VA’ANACHNU LO NEIDA... The words and those that follow, are actually borrowed into Tachanun from Divrei HaYamim Bet 20:12. But the three-word phrase appears in Tanach only in one other place. That place is in Parshat BO, Sh’mot 10:26. After the 9th plague of Darkness, Par’o magnanimously agrees to allow the children to accompany the adults, but still insists that the animals remain behind. Moshe tells him that “we do not know what we will need to serve G-d”, and therefore everyone and everything comes with us.
[2] Unlike the first TTriddle, several solvers got this one, including some callers to Torah Tidbits Audio. Balak and Bil’am each described the people of Israel and being so numerous as to cover the “eye of the earth”. This was the description of plague #8, the Locust. Interestingly (and the main reason for using this as a TTriddle), both terms - VAYCHAS and KISAH (both meaning “cover”) are used in BO with the ARBEH and in Parshat Balak. [Side point: The Meraglim expessed fear that we would appear to the people in Eretz Yisrael as grasshoppers. We called that one pretty close.]
[3] LO and KEIN, no and yes, are two-letter words that are opposite each other in meaning. That lead to a search in Tanach which lead to this TTriddle. The pair is pronounced LO CHEIN, the dot dropping out of the KAF... Oh, wait. That’s for a different column. Yosef first say LO CHAEIN to Yaakov, when he reached out and put his right hand on Efrayim’s head and his left on Menashe’s. In BO, Par’o said it to Moshe when he told him that the kids will stay behind. G-d said it to Aharon and Miriam when He explained to them the uniqueness of their brother, Moshe Rabeinu. Moshe said it to Bnei Yisrael, in G-d’s name, when he explained to us that other nations use conjurers and astrologers, but not us. Those are the four occurrences of the pair of two- letter opposites.
[4] The term CHATZI HALAILA, midnight, occurs in Parshat Bo with MAKAT B’CHOROT, the smiting of the first borns, and only two other places in Tanach: With Shimshon in Sho’f’tim 16 and with Boaz in Megilat Ruth.
[5] Concerning the Korban Pesach, the Torah pro- hibits eating it rare or cooked. The words of this command are AL TO-CH’LU. These specific words (among others that prohibit eating) appear only in one other place in Tanach. In Megilat Esther, when Esther commands Mordechai to gather the Jews of Shushan and fast on her behalf, she adds V’AL TO- CH’LU... This would make for a Pesach-Purim con- nection. However, this fast that Esther asked for was to be on Pesach. In fact, one of the commentaries points out that telling the people not to eat or drink seems redundant in light of the fact that she just asked them to fast. Explains the commentary: Not only should you fast by abstaining from “optional” food, but do not even eat the required amount of Matza for the Mitzva, nor drink the wine of the Four Cups. This makes the words AL TO-CH’LU a Pesach- Pesach connection.
[6] That which G-d used (so to speak) to close the Sea on the Egyptians, thereby saving the People of Israel, was a RU’ACH KADIM, an easterly wind. This same wind brought about the plague of locusts and the devastation of Egypt. The same wind also brought the power of the sun onto Yona after a worm had ruined the shade that was protecting him, thus putting him in peril.
Now to the ParshaPix. In the upper-left is a tie with the design of a car, making it an auto-tie, a sound-alike for OTOTAI, a twice-used word in the beginning of Parshat BO, and one that catches one’s attention.
Then there is the bone, not a hard PPP at all, but one that people will take the easy way out with and forget the other use of the word. One may not break a bone in Korban Pesach. Easy. But the word ETZEM is used in another phrase, used three times in Parshat BO, B’ETZEM HAYOM HAZEH, on that very day we came out of Egypt. The repetition of the word is noteworthy.
And finally, we come to the Coke bottle with the snake. This was a play on the words in the Haftara, KOLAH K’NACHASH...

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Went from front to back; previously, told whom about what?
[2] D& D, after-sent partners
[3] Let's dance to the light of the Moon and sing song Chanuka songs, too.
[4] Specific instructions to split and return...and what 2 of 10?
[5] Violating a D’Rabbanan can get you wet

[The Parshat B'shalach Homepage]
[The TORAH tidbits Homepage] [How to use TORAH tidbits]
[About The OU/NCSY Israel Center] [About TORAH tidbits]