PARSHA-PIX - Parshat K'doshim

Parsha Pix
Upper-left Shabbat candle sticks for the reminder to keep the Shabbat attached to Reverence for parents and to Reverence for the Mikdash.
The B'samim is for Havdala, not from Shabbat to Chol but between kosher and non-kosher animals and between us and other nations - both mentioned at the end of the sedra.
The heart in the Torah is a pictogram for Love thy fellow being a great Torah rule.
The lifesaver is for the mitzva not to stand by idly while someone is in danger.
The grapes and the wheat refer to many agricultural mitzvot in the sedra - PE'AH, LEKET, and others.
The thief is various prohibitions related to theft.
The camel with the monkey-head is a reminder of the prohibition to cross breed animals.
The scales of justice knocked over are for the mitzvot and prohibitions related to honest and fair judging.
The scale is weighing a 1 kilo weight, but reads less than one. Either the weight is off or the scale is. Whichever, that would be ASUR, to use false weights and measures or even to possess them.
Razor blade for the prohibition of shaving with one.
The trees with fruit stand for the first three years - ORLA, then the fourth year being special (that’s why it is marked with an asterisk), the fruit is KADOSH. And the 5th year's fruit tree is on a plate with a knife and fork, indicating that from the 5th year on, the food is ours to eat (after T'ruma, Maaser, etc.)
Top middle is IYAR whose Rosh Chodesh is this Shabbat. It is written the way it is to represent Yom HaAtzmaut (ALEF-YUD is Eretz Yisrael) and (Yom) Yerushalayim, two special dates in the month.
K’doshim is a unique, remarkable sedra. Use it well.

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 (M’TZORA-HAGADOL) TTriddles:
[1] Last 4 times, first once
[2] Some say Ezra to Fathers perek to perek match up
[3] Report in last of first's indicates that things haven't changed much
[4] The two-dot-er and the one-dot-ee
[5] Burned, eaten...or what?
[6] Parsha's parallel to Sukkot's four
[7] The four preempted by these two
[8] A pair of 3s isn't such an exciting poker hand, but [L] as far as...

And the envelope please...
[1] This is a Shabbat HaGadol TTriddle. The opening pasuk of the Haftara is the last pasuk we say in the Amida - V’A-R’VA LASHEM MINCHAT YEHUDA... So on Shabbat HaGadol, it is last four times - Maariv, Shacharit, Musaf, and Mincha, and first once, in the Haftara.
[2] “Some say Ezra” is MAL’ACHI, because some say he was Ezra. This would indicate that the TTriddle also has something to do with the Haftara of Shabbat HaGadol, which it does. “Fathers” is AVOT, as in Pirkei Avot. “Perek to Perek matchup” means the third perek of each, since the Haftara comes from the third perek of Mal’achi. The answer is the pasuk AZ NIDB’RU YIR’EI HASHEM... which is quoted in the third perek of Avot (twice, as a matter of fact).
[3] The report in the last (pasuk) of the first (day of Pesach’s Haftara) is that Jericho is closed to Israelis - none enter or leave. Things haven’t changed much.
[4] Back to M’tzora. The kohein who purifies the person who is finished with his N’GA’IM is the M’TAHEIR. The MEM has a SH’VA, so the purifiER is a two-dot. The recovering m’tzora is the MITAHEIR. The MEM is voweled with a CHIRIK, so the purifiEE is a one-dot.
[5] NOTAR, left over. Several times, the Torah commands that left overs from korbanot be burned. In the case of some korbanot, the NOTAR is to be eaten (this refers to the following day of a korban that can be eaten for two days and the night in between (see Vayikra 7:16). In the case of Parshat M’tzora, NOTAR refers to left over oil of the atoning m’tzora that is in the kohein’s left palm. It is placed on the head of the MITAHEIR.
[6] Sukkot’s Four, of course, is/are the ARBA’A MINIM, the Four Species. The M’tzora’s parallel are the items he must take as part of the atonement and purification process - namely, the cedar branch, the hyssop, the dyed wool , and the live bird. Not only are these four things for him to take, but three of them are tied together as an AGUDA (same term used for the bundle of the Lulav, Hadasim, and Aravot). Just as the Etrog is not part of the bundle, neither, explains Rashi, is the live bird. Although taken together, it isn’t part of the AGUDA, making it a good parallel to Sukkot’s Four.
[7] MM/Bklyn suggested it is the two words MORID HATAL that have replaced MASHIV HARU’ACH UMORID HAGASHEM since the first day of Pesach. Nice try. But not the “correct” solution. Nor is V’TEIN BRACHA for V’TEIN TAL UMATAR LIVRACHA. Nor is it the G-gang’s attempt of (Elazar) BEN (Azaria) and BEN (Zoma) who precede (not preempt) the four BANIM in the Hagada.
The “real” answer, again, relates to the Haftara of Shabbat HaGadol, which preempted the regular Haftara of M’tzora. The regular Haftara begins with the story of the FOUR m’tzora’im. The four are pre- empted by two special peale mentioned in the Haftara of Shabbat HaGadol, namely MOSHE RABEINU and ELIYA(HU) HANAVI. Interestingly, the message of the end of MAL’ACHI is to remember “MOSHE’S TORAH” and to know that the Complete Geula awaits us. That’s the whole past, present, and future of BNEI YISRAEL.
[8] In poker, a pair of threes beats a pair of twos and a hand with nothing. Of the 2,598,960 possible poker hands (five cards, regular 52-card deck), 1,302,540 are “nothing”; that’s a little over half the possible hands. Another 84,480 hands will have a pair of twos. So a pair of threes will beat a random hand only 53.4% of the time. Not very exciting. But [L], which means L’HAVDIL, the pair of threes in Parshat M’tzora is very exciting. Three-word p’sukim are very rare in the Torah. There are only 13 of them. M’tzora has a pair of three-word p’sukim. Quite unique.
Honors (and prizes) to the G-gang for their fine solution set. They hit some on the head and had good attempts at the others. We won’t say if some of their “other” solutions were better than the “real” solutions...

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Could be a description of a mouth with a surprised expression
[2] Five crown wearers mix things up
[3] Egged Agrees
[4] In two five it was four five; in three seven it is five four, sort of.
[5] Five decorated blockheads create a sartorial no-no
[6] 212233 is 21433 each number is a different letter; vowels are odd, consonants even
[7] Head, face, and ...?

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