PARSHA-PIX Parshat Eikev

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Parsha Pix
Dvarim 8:8 presents us with the famous list of the Seven Species. Wheat is the one at the upper left. Barley is between the martini and the grenade. You can't miss the grapes. Pomegranate is represented by the hand grenade, known as a RIMON in Hebrew. Rimon is a pomegranate. (Interesting that a granade is nicknamed pineapple in English.) The olive is in the martini glass, and there is a date (the 31st) on the calendar in the upper right corner. Missing from the picture is FIG.
The Land is also described as being a land whose rocks are iron (Fe on the piece of rock), and from whose mountains you can extract copper. That's the penny on the hill.
It is in Parshat Eikev that Moshe recounts for the people the story of the Golden Calf, the breaking of the Luchot, and the second Luchot. A little below the center of the PP is a pair of stone tablets and in the lower left is Davka Judaic ClipArt’s sceen of the Golden Calf.
The second passage of the Sh'ma is in Eikev. It contains the mitzva of Mezuza (and is written on the Mezuza parchment) and a reminder of the "deal" we have with G-d. If we listen to the Mitzvot (preserve them, keep them, practice them), then we will receive rainfall in its proper time. That's the cloud with drops of rain. But if we don't observe and preserve the mitzvot, then G-d will "lock" the heavens and there will not (G-d forbid) be rainfall, and the ground will not give up its bounty, and we will be lost...
The elephant is a reminder (because elephants never forget) of the many times (in this sedra and elsewhere) that the Torah commands us to remember and warns us never to forget.
Next to the martini is a yellow jacket, as in the TZIR’A that G-d says he will send against our enemies.
This leaves several visual TTriddles. “Extra large”, a B, baby, tomato, bread, and key. Some go together; others don’t. Watch out for misdirection.
YYW is this week’s winner

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 (VA’ETCHANAN) TTriddles:
[1] Five times in the sedra and initially in the haftara
[2] With PATACHs, it's second; with SEGOLs, its first
[3] Emori name tells about the climate; in Va’etchanan, name tells about the view?
[4] 2+2 (at least) a day, 4 + 1 backwards in D’varim, another in Shmuel
[5] 1 take-out (NS), 1 opener, 1 closer
[6] Opening trio again within, each time, and only once more - where?
[7] In D’varim & Va’etchanan, they stay together, in V’zot HaBracha they separate
[8] In the sedra, from the beginning; in the haftara, the last part
[9] plus one unexplained item from the Parsha Pix

And the envelope please...
[1] SH’MA (hear, also understand - both meanings apply to most occurrences of the word SH’MA). That’s the answer. The word appears five times in the sedra and “initially” - in the form of initials, Rashei Teivot, in the haftara. Last pasuk, to be specific - S’U MAROM EINEICHEM... lift your eyes heavenward...
[2] BET-TZADI-REISH. The word appears twice in the sedra. Once with PATACHs under the first two letters. BATZAR L’CHA... which is the beginning words of the SECOND aliya of Tish’a b’Av morning reading (and in the SECOND aliya of Va’etchanan). The same letters then appear with SEGOLs under the first two letters, BETZER, which is the FIRST of the three Cities of Refuge named in the sedra. The ones on the east side of the Jordan River. These are the only two times BET-TZADI-REISH appears in the Torah. (There are 19 more occurrences in Tanach, various vowel arrangements.)
[3] A variation on a theme from one of last week’s TTriddles. The Emori called the Hermon S’NIR. In modern Hebrew, S’NIR is a glacier. In Aramaic it is TALGA, which is SHELEG, snow. Rashi says that it means snow in “Ashkenaz” and in the Canaanite language. One way or the other, the Emori name for the Hermon tells us about the climate there. In Va’etchanan, the Hermon is also called SI’ON, or, in English SEE ON, indicating the great view of the surrounding area from the peak of the Hermon.
[4] Here’s another TTriddle in honor of one of the most famous passages from Parshat Va’etchanan - namely, SH’MA YISRA’EL. We say those words twice a day by mitzva/command of the Torah. And another two times (at least) - once in Korbanot and once “AL HAMITA”, in bed at night. The phrase appears four times in D’varim, twice in Va’etchanan
and two other times later in the book of D’varim. In addition, the two words YISRAEL and SH’MA appear once in that order in D’varim 4:1 (which is in Va’etchanan). In Shmuel Alef 23:10, the only other occurrence of that sequece of two words appears: YISRAEL, SHAMO’A SHAMA... Not exactly the same, but TTriddle-worthy nonetheless.
[5] Ace TTriddles solver YYW suggested an improvement on this TTriddle, so we will use it for the presentation of the solution. 1 take-out (plus another one (NS)), 1 opener, 1 closer. The TTriddle refers to four p’sukim in Va’etchanan (the actual TTriddle only referred to three p’sukim). The take- out pasuk is SH’MA YISRAEL, said when we take out the Torah on Shabbat and Chagim. ATA HOR’EITA LADA’AT... is also said at Torah take-out time, but only in NS, Nusach S’fard). V’ATEM HA-D’VEIKIM... is an opener, said as part of the opening call to the Torah of the Kohen. V’ZOT HATORAH is a closer pasuk, said after Torah reading when the Torah is held aloft.
[6] This is a real neat TTriddle, because the three-word phrase in question only appears five times in the Tanach, even though it is so well-known. ANOCHI HASHEM ELOKECHA... is the trio of words that open each of the versions of the Aseret HaDibrot, from Yitro and from Va’etchanan. The phrase appears again within the second command- ment prohibiting idolatry. The only other time these three words appear is in T’hilim 81:11, which is the Shir Shel HaYom of Yom Chamishi (Thursday’s Psalm of the day).
[7] This is a trick TTriddle. The answer is ALEF-SHIN- DALET-TAV, which spells ASHDOT, a word that appears twice in Chumash in the phrase TACHAT ASHDOT HAPISGAH. R. Aryeh Kaplan z”l in The Living Torah, translates it as “under the rapids (or waterfall) flowing from the cliff”. Aside from these to times, this sequence of letters appears asa different word in V’zot HaBracha. Although it is written in a Sefer Torah as a single word, it is read as two words - EISH DAT, “the fire of religion”.
[8] This one was on the hard side, probably because it is too vague. The anser is The Pesach Seder. In the sedra, we have some p’sukim that are from the beginning of the Hagada. Or, at least, close to the beginning. AVADIM HAYINU... and the question of the Wise Child’s question. In the haftara, we have the word NIRTZA, which is the end of the Seder.
[9] Which brings us to the element of the ParshaPix that was left unexplained. It was a Simchat Torah scene, and therefore refers to the pasuk ATA HOR’EITA LADA’AT... Which for Nusach Ashkenaz people (see [5] above) is associated with Simchat Torah. If you don’t believe us, just read your Simchat Torah flag.
There is a collection of short Divrei Torah under the name YEINA SHEL TORAH for Sukkot. One comment there pointed to the experience of Simchat Torah and the completion and restarting of the Torah cycle as a necessary condition for our under- standing and appreciation of the concept expressed in the pasuk: You are the ones who have been shown, so that you will know that G-d is the Supreme Being, and that there is none besides Him. Only at this special moment in the cycle of the year, after completing the Yamim Nora’im and the holiday of Sukkot and its mitzvot, etc. - after repentance motivated by fear and by love, can one achieve the spiritual level to appreciate this pasuk. And to be allowed to recite this pasuk. The thought fits only for Nusach Ashkenaz, in which the pasuk is only used before Hakafot on Simchat Torah, night and day. Doesn’t really fit with Nusach Sfard, in which it is said every Shabbat and Chag. This is an example of a TTriddle being more than a TTriddle.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] How do you say ? in Hebrew? :
[2] The 9th is the 2nd, the 2nd, and the 4th
[3] The question that lingers: this week, next, and the next
[4] A Divine anagram precedes a beheaded ancestor
[5] 1535°C • 1083°C
[6] Echo 10
[7] 31 times in Tanach, including 11 in the Torah, but this week's three are THIS
[8] The seven greatly toggled bais were Wippasosa frames
[9] plus several unexplained items in the Parsha Pix

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