PARSHA-PIX Parshat Matot-Masei
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Parsha Pix
An upgraded “oldie but goodie”.
Upper-right. Father and daughter; husband and wife. The two pairs involved
in HAFARAT NEDARIM.
Five crown plus one with a sword under it refers to the five kings and
Bil’am who saw their end during the battle against Midyan.
The face-to-face sheep, cows, and donkeys represent the even split of the
spoils of war from Midyan, divided between the army and the rest of the
people.
The pot of gold refers to the contribution of the officers of the battle
in thanks to G-d for the zero casualty rate.
The Pyramids, the many arrows, and the outline of Israel, of course, stand
for the travels of the people from Exodus to Eretz Yisrael.
The quill refers to the Torah’s statement that Moshe wrote down the
travelog of Bnei Yisrael.
The map above the Pyramids with a big 3 on each side of the Jordan River
refers to the Cities of Refuge to be designated in Eretz Yisrael.
The scales of justice are for the careful attention that the courts must
pay in cases of homicide (the example from this week’s sedra) in
determining culpability of the guilty party.
The road sign to Hebron is one of the requirements for Cities of Refuge.
Roads to them must be well-marked to facilitate the escape to them of one
who committed a homicide, regardless of the out- come of his trial.
The cow with the horns stands for the rare (this once only) occurrence of
the TROP called KARNEI PARA.
The big rock under the sword is TZUR, the name of one of the late
Midyanite kings.
Lower-right is the logo of YOTVATA, name of one of the encampments.
There is another Chatan-Kallah, this time multiplied by 5, representing
the daughters of Zelofchad who marry distant cousins to solve the old
“land going from one tribe to another tribe” problem.
Three more pix-items are TTriddles. Use the PP 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 (PiNCHAS) TTriddles:
[1] Small, broken, read, write
[2] D + B = L = ?
[3] The fish was thrilled with this hello & goodbye
[4] Bundle: AttackT
[5] More than any of the other 5845 - How many times this year?
[6] Add a tiny bit of ink and jump four generations ahead
[7] Whose son was most entitled to steal the Afikoman?
[8] Assorted numbers in the ParshaPix
[9] Migdal David with...
And the envelope please...
[1] YUD, VAV, YUD, VAV - that's the small YUD in PINCHAS, the broken VAV
in SHALOM, and the K'RI & K'TIV of K'RI'EI HA-EIDA, a reference to Datan &
Aviram.
[2] D is for the day of Sukkot; B is for the number of bulls in the Musaf
of that day; L is for the number of lambs in each day's Musaf. On day 1,
there are 13 bulls, adding up to 14, the number of lambs in Musaf of each
day of Sukkot. On day 2, 12 bulls were born. That also adds to 14. In
fact, it works for all days of Sukkot. 3+11, 4+10, 5+9, 6+8, and 7+7.
[3] The song from the old musical Milk and Honey about SHALOM tells us
that it means hello and goodbye (among 1000 other things). A slight
exaggeration, but for this TTriddle, hello & goodbye = SHALOM. This SHALOM
refers to the one in the beginning of Parshat Pinchas, the one with the
broken VAV. VAV means hook and fish would be very pleased with a broken
hook.
[4] TZADI-REISH-VAV-REISH spells TZ'ROR from Parshat Mikeitz, when the
brothers checked their sacks they found the BUNDLE of their money in it.
When the TZADI is voweled with a SH'VA (colon), the word means bundle. In
Parshat Pinchas, the same letters with the TZADI voweled with a KAMATZ
(which looks like the letter T) means ATTACK, as in TZAROR ET HAMIDYANIM...
[5] There are 5846 p'sukim (verses) in the Torah. There is one in Parshat
Pinchas that is read more times in a year than any of the other 5845
p'sukim. It is Bamidbar 28:3. This is the pasuk that is the third pasuk of
the first Aliya of the Rosh Chodesh (when it is on a weekday) Torah
reading. It is then reread as the first pasuk of the second Aliya. This
pasuk is doubled to maintain the correct minimum number of p'sukim for an
Aliya and to avoid stopping an Aliya in the wrong place (too close to a
parsha break).
Because some years have 13 months and some have 12, and because Cheshvan
and Kislev vary in number of days, and because the number of Rosh
Chodeshes that fall on Shabbat varies from year to year, the exact number
of times 28:3 is read in a given year will vary. The TTriddle asked about
this year, 7563. Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan was Sunday and Monday. That's twice
each day. Four times, so far. Kislev also had two days Rosh Chodesh,
Tuesday and Wednesday. That's another four, for a total of eight times.
Tevet also had two days Rosh Chodesh, Thursday and Friday. But that is
during Chanuka, when the Rosh Chodesh reading is done by/for three people,
rather than the usual four. The fourth Aliya is from a second Sefer Torah,
in the Chanuka portion.Because of this, the pasuk does not need repeating.
So that's only two more times for Tevet. Ten, so far. Rosh Chodesh Shvat
was only one day, and it was Shabbat. The Maftir of Shabbat Rosh Chodesh
does not include the first 8 p'sukim of Bamidbar 28. Two Adars, this year,
each with two days Rosh Chodesh - Sunday-Monday and Tuesday-Wednesday.
That's another eight times. 18, so far. Rosh Chodesh Nisan, Thursday only
this year, adds another two. 20 so far. Iyar - Friday and Shabbat. Two
more. 22. Sivan - Sunday. 24. Tammuz - Monday and Tuesday. Four. 28. Rosh
Chodesh Av will be a Wednesday, and Rosh Chodesh Elul will be Thursday and
Friday. That's another six. 34. And let's not forget last Shabbat, Parshat
Pinchas, when we read 28:3 in context. The pasuk is read 35 times during
5763 - more than any other pasuk.
To complete the solution to this TTriddle, we must point out that the
Torah Reading of Rosh Chodesh according to Minhag Yerushalayim does not
double 28:3. Rather, the three p'sukim, 28:6-8 are read at the end of the
second Aliya and repeated at the beginning of the third Aliya. But since
this Minhag is not as common in Israel (and certainly if we include the
rest of the Jewish world) as the "regular" practice, 28:3 stands as the
solution of this TTriddle.
[6] SARA, SIN-REISH-HEI. With a tiny bit of ink, the HEI becomes a CHET
and we have SERACH bat ASHER. That's a jump of four generations, from SARA
to [1] YITZCHAK to [2] YAAKOV to [3] to Asher to [4] SERACH. RHM had
another solution. LAVAN to [1] LEAH to [2] LEVI to [3] GERSHON to [4]
LIVNI. Not bad, except in addition to adding a YUD (which isn’t as tiny a
bit of ink as the HEI-closer is), you’d have to change a NUN SOFIT to a
regular NUN. But nice try.
[7] The answer is GAD, one of whose sons was TZ'FON. A short way from
TZAFUN, the part of the SEDER when we eat the AFIKOMAN.
[8] The numbers from the ParshaPix were kind of easy. There is a small 10
representing the small YUD in the opening PINCHAS of the sedra. There is a
broken 6 for the broken VAV in SHALOM, and a large 50 for the big
final-NUN of MISHPATAN.
[9] The other picture element was also easy. There are two ears on the
Tower of David. They stand for AZNEI YERUSHALAYIM, the ears of Jerusalem,
mentioned in the Haftara.
I’d have to say that EB and YYW did equally well and qualify for top
honors this week. YYW had a variant solution for D+B=L. Dan had family
named in the sedra, SHUCHAMI. Binyamin had BAL’I, ASHBEILI, ACHIRAMI,
SHUFAMI, CHUFAMI, ARDI, NAAMI - that’s 7 family names. LEVI had 8 family
names mentioned: GEIRSHUNI, K’HATI, M’RARI, LIVNI, CHEVRONI, MACHLI, MUSHI,
KORCHI. D+B=L.
Even though we admitted that fgfhfhhgf was a mis- take, and apologized for
it, EB insisted on solving it as initials of: Feigning good fun, his
fabricated hieroglyphics hatched great frustration. Way to go, EB
This week's TTriddles:
[1] aureus • epidermidis • saproph(ytious)...
[2] 11000101010001000000
[3] They only sound like brothers
[4] Son of one of the Eight
[5] 79 47 29 26 50 82
[6] If her husband does it, they survive. Had she done it, she and her
people would be lost.
[7]Apparently, it helps to sing when you are afraid
Plus three items from the ParshaPix
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