PARSHA-PIX - Parshat Bo

Parsha Pix
BO, whose G'matriya is 3, has the three last plagues, represented here by the locust, the black rectangle, and the sword. There are two ways of looking at MAKAT B'CHOROT. The standard way is that the 10th and final plague was the smiting of the first-borns. This fits the name of the plague - all the others have the name of that which plagued Egypt, blood, frogs, lice, etc. Only the 10th is called MAKAT B'CHOROT (as opposed to B'CHOROT), because the first borns were not the plague, they were the victims of the plague. On the other hand, there is an opinion that they were the plague. Or, shall we say, they were the first part of the plague. They died. But before that, say our sources, they took up sword and killed many Egyptians. They were angry and upset (to put it mildly) that this Moshe person was threatening in G-d's name to kill the first borns of Egypt and Par'o seemed to be resisting. That thought did not make them happy, loyal Egyptians. This idea fits with the words in T'hilim 136 - L'MAKEI MITZRAYIM (for smiting Egypt) BIVCHOREIHEM (WITH their first borns). It does not say "smiting their first borns", but rather "WITH their first borns". It also fits with the mnemonic device that is quoted in the Hagada in the name of Rabbi Yehuda - D'TZACH ADASH BA'ACHAV - the initials of the 10 plagues. The last one is a BET for B'CHORIM, not MAKAT B'CHORIM. Just as lice and wild animals, hail and locust were plagues, so were the first borns of the Egyptians.
The Yo-Yo at the bottom is an apt image for Par'o's treatment of Moshe and Aharon - get out, come back to me, leave and don't let me see your face again, quickly come to me...
The clock shows "around 12:00", not at exactly midnight. G-d said to Moshe that He will act at exactly midnight. Moshe transmitted this message to the people as KACHATZOT, around midnight, so that people should not jump to foolish wrong conclusions about G-d based on their inexact reading of the time.
The lamb in the doorway stands for the Korban Pesach, which was taken into the home and whose blood was smeared on the doorposts.
Matza is Matza. And T'filin are T'filin.
The dog is barking - unlike his counterparts in the Jewish areas of Egypt on the night of Makat B'chorot.
The canned food could be seen as dog food to reward the dog for its “Kiddush HaShem”. But the better explanation of the can is that canned food is called SHIMURIM in Hebrew. As in Leil Shimurim.
In the lower right is a bow - for Parshat BO and for the “gifts” that the Egyptians gave Bnei Yisrael.
The baby, goat, and donkey represent the three different types of B'CHOR in Jewish law.
The bull in a circle is one of last years PPPs. It represents PAR (bull) - O, as in the ruler of Egypt.
That leaves three (might look like 4, but its only three) PPP-type pictorial TTriddles. B’hatzlacha.

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 (Va’eira) TTriddles:
[1] Last week & next week, this week
[2] They left some behind, but they didn't
[3] heart, #4, #5, #7
[4] Spared in the first; offered in the second
Plus...
5 (not 6 as erroneously mentioned in last week’s TTriddles report) elements from the ParshaPix on page 3 (the ones not explained on page 10).

And the envelope please...
[1] The intended solution for this one was based on the fact that in “this week’s sedra” (Va’eira) there appears the words V’EILEH SH’MOT (last week) and VAYOMER HASHEM EL MOSHE BO EL PAR’O (next week). Several solvers got this one. And equal number (almost) gave a different solution, which is almost as correct (but not exactly). Rosh Chodesh. Last week (Sh’mot) was Rosh Chodesh benching. Next week (BO) has the mitzva of HACHODESH HAZEH LACHEM. And this week (Va’eira) was Rosh Chodesh. Partial credit.
[2] When the plague of frogs ended, Moshe told Par’o that the frogs would leave, and remain only in the river. (They left some behind.) With the plague of locust, the Torah tells us that “Not a single locust remained within Egypt’s borders. (but they didn’t)
[3] KAVEID. Heavy. This term applies to Par’o’s heart, when he steeled himself against the plagues and reneged on his word to let the People leave Egypt. It is also used in the descriptions of plagues #4, 5, and 7. In this week’s sedra of BO, the locust is described as KAVEID M’OD, very heavy.
[4] Here’s the indended solution (some solvers came up with different answers). In the reading in the first Sefer Torah of last Shabbat, the animals of the Jews were spared during the plague of DEVER. In the second Torah (the reading for Shabbat-Rosh Chodesh) much the same animals were offered as korbanot on the Mizbei’ach.

From the ParshaPix...
SSSJ, a.k.a. Triple-S Jay, was the popular and B”H successful organization, the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, whose slogan was “Let My People Go”.
The shovel in the Pix was used by Egyptians during the plague of Blood, to dig for water.
The Staff of Moshe burped after it ate the staffs of the wizards of Egypt.
Lower-left is a standing wheat stalk (which survived the Hail) and a fallen barley stalk which was broken by the hail.
The armchair etc. is for the opening of the Haftara of Shabbat-Rosh Chodesh: ...the heaven is My throne, and the earth, My footstool...
Winners
Best solution set this week came from veteran and ace TTriddles solver YYW (with some family help). CD from Noam Productions and a gift from Big Deal await him at TTriddles Headquarters at the Israel Center.
Prizes (one or the other) also await veteran ace RHM for her successful efforts, and newcomers, the Gersten Gang for theirs.
And relatively new solver DAC also merits a prize for his fine work.
CS also gets a prize for his solutions, plus his addition that the tree (which really represented the earth for the footstool) reminds us of Beit Shammai’s opinion about Rosh HaShana for trees, being on Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat..
One more TTriddle prize to award to EB for his partial solution set. On the other point he raised in his fax, you get your apology. There should have been nine greats. Sorry. David’s father Yishai, grandfather Oved, great (count them) Boaz, Salma, Nachshon, Aminadav, Ram, Chetzron, Peretz, Yehuda, Leah
Leah is David’s great (x9) grandmother.

This week's 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

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