PARSHA-PIX - Parshat Miketz

Parsha Pix
At the top you have the seven fat (and happy) cows and the seven full, healthy stalks of grain. Right below them are the seven skinny (and unhealthy) cows and stalks. They’re all from Par’o’s dream.
Mickey Mouse, in his famous role as the sorcerer’s apprentice, represents the wizards of Egypt who were unable to satisfactorily interpret Par’o’s dreams.
When the Wine Steward finally told Par’o about Yosef, he (Yosef) was brought up from the dungeon and cleaned up. Tradition tells us that it was Rosh HaShana when Yosef was brought before Par’o – hence, the Shofar. The Torah tells us that he shaved for the occasion – hence the electric shaver with the Shofar.
The scarab ring represents the one Par’o gave Yosef when he decided to appoint Yosef “over Egypt”.
20% was part of Yosef’s plan for Par’o, to take that percentage from each producer during the years of plenty, so that there would be enough to go around during the years of famine.
10+1+? was the brothers' answer to Yosef's question about their family. We are 10 brothers, son of one man. One other brother is at home and the other's whereabouts are unknown.
Botnim (now peanuts but originally pistachio) were part of Yaakov's gift package.
The cup is Yosef's, used to frame Binyamin.
The double sacks is the double portion of money the brothers found returned to their sacks.
The Menora is an obvious reference to Chanuka, although it is instructive to show this picture to the young ones and have them contrast it to their Chanukiya. Some people (and not just youngsters) have an image of the Menora in the Beit HaMikdash looking like our Chanukiya.
In the lower-left is a scene from Megilat Esther, with Haman leading Mordechai through the streets. There are many remarkable similarities between that Megila scene and what was done with Yosef.

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 (Vayeishev-Chanuka) TTriddles:
[1] Yaakov, Yosef, Yaakov - - Eisav -
[2] Instead of wet, make a bet
[3] X = n(1+n)/2 + n What are X and n?
[4] Who doesn't get Maftir?
[5] A challenge, trouble, mess-ups, illness, & what?
[6] Kayin and Yosef?
[7] Dreidel - jelly donut = the page to her
In addition to the 7 TTriddles, there is the unexplained element in the ParshaPix — let’s call that [8] and [9] and [10] are the two questions from the Chanuka piece that are marked “to be treated like a TTriddle”.
[The page for coloring was NOT part of the TTriddles. We thank those readers who sent in the colored in pages (except for the one who went out of the lines often), but no prizes will be awarded for the coloring, to avoid setting a dangerous precedent.]

And the envelope please...
[1] The rare and elaborate TRUP known as SHALSHELET makes one stand up and take notice. In Vayeishev, it was Yosef who refused, we can say - emphatically - to give in to the advances of Potifar’s wife, with the word VAYMA’EIN. Standing up and taking notice in TTriddle terms means to run the word through a computer search and see where else it is used. Earlier in the sedra, Yaakov refused to accept that Yosef was dead. And in Yaychi, we find Yaakov refusing to uncross his hands when blessing Yosef’s sons. With these three occurrences of the word, we can say it belongs to Yaakov and Yosef. The two dashes indicate that the word does not appear in either Sh’mot or Vayikra, after its three appearances in B’reishit. The only other time it shows up in the Chumash is in Bamidbar, when Eisav (actually, Edom) refuses to allow the people of Israel to pass through its territory. D’varim is the last dash.
[2] In Hebrew, wet (or moist) is LACH. If instead of the LAMED-CHET of VAYISHLACH, we make a BET after the remaining VAV-YUD-SHIN, we get the following sedra of VAYEISHEV.
[3] This equation represents the number of candles used during Chanuka. n=8, as in 8 days of Chanuka. To add up the numbers one through eight, we can use the formula of n(1+n)/2, which is 8x9/2 = 36. Add n shamashim to the 36 mitzva candles and we get X=44, the number of candles we need.
[4] Who doesn’t get Maftir means (for this TTriddle), which NASI is never read for Maftir on Shabbat Chanuka. Since the first day of Chanuka can be any day of the week except Tuesday (that’s the way the fixed calendar works out), then the fifth day of Chanuka cannot be Shabbat (all the others can). This means that SHLUMI’EL b. TZURISHADAI of Shevet SHIMON is never Maftir. Dr. Avshalom Kor speculates that this might be one of the origins of the hard luck SHL’MIEL (partner of SHL’MAZ’L).
[5] This TTriddle is based on the expression VAYHI ACHAR HADVARIM HA-EILEH... and it came to pass after these things... This phrase appears in Tanach only 5 times - thrice in B’reishit and twice in M’lachim Alef. The first time, it was G-d’s “challenge” to Avraham to bring Yitzchak to the Akeida. In Vayeishev, it heralded the trouble Yosef had from Potifar’s wife. Also in Vayeishev (with 2 of the 5 occurrences of the phrase in the sedra, it rates a TTriddle), it introduces the story of the Wine Steward and the Baker, and their mess-ups (messes-up?) that landed them in prison. The first time in M’lachim, it precedes the story of the son of the woman who was hospitable to Eliyahu HaNavi. It starts with his getting sick. And the final time, it leads to the story of a vineyard.
[6] VAV-YUD-VET-ALEF is usually VAYAVO (and he came), occur- ring many times in Tanach. Same word can also be VAYAVEI (and he brought). This word is on the rare side, and is used to tell us that KAYIN brought an offering to G-d from the fruits of the ground, and that YOSEF brought various reports about his brothers to their father.
[7] This one is invalidated because there was a mistake made in its formulation. Let’s leave it at that. Believe it or not, YYW sort of solved it anyway, a different way from its original intention.
[8] Twice in the beginning of Vayeishev, we are told that the brothers further hated Yosef, VAYOSIFU OD SNOW OTO... That’s what the snowflake stands for.
Before we get to [9] and [10], here are the answers to the other Chanuka questions.
We use 44 candles throughout Chanuka. Over the first five nights, we use 2+3+4+5+6 = 20 candles – that’s less than half. But after the 6th night, 27 candles will have been used, leaving 17 candles for the last two nights. So the answer is “after the 6th”.
If Chanuka were 12 days long, we would need 1+2+ 3...+12 = 78 candles, plus another 12 for Shamash each night, for a total of 90 candles.
[9] The Fibonacci series begins with 1 and 1, and then each following number is the sum of the previous two numbers. After 1,1 is 2 (which is 1+1). Then 3 (2+1), then 5 (3+2), then 8 (5+3), etc. For the eight days of Chanuka according to the Fibonacci shita, we would light 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, and 21 candles, for a total of 54 candles, plus 8 shamashim – that’s 62 candles all together. The second part of this question dealt with the intent of the MEHADRIN MIN HAMEHADRIN way of lighting, namely to count the nights of Chanuka rather than to have them all be the same, thereby highlighting the concept of EIGHT days of Chanuka. YYW pointed out that with Fibonacci numbers, only the first and fifth day would match 1 and 5 candles. True, but that’s not the point here. 13 is the 7th Fibonacci number, so lighting 13 candles on the 7th night would fit the bill, just as our 7 candles according to Beit Hillel, as well as Beit Shammai’s 2 candles would identify the 7th night of Chanuka. The problem nights for the Fibonacci lighting would be the first two nights, with one candle each, thereby NOT telling us which night it is.
[I sincerely hope that some readers enjoyed the above playing with Fibonacci numbers. This TTriddle and its solution are presented in fond memory of my father z”l, who taught me as a young child the Fibonacci series and took me on many other excursions into number theory and mathematics in general, instead of the usual bedtime fare of Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk.]
[10] In the standard game of dreidel, spinning a SHIN or PEI requires the spinner to put some money or peanuts or toothpicks, etc. into the pot. SHIN stands for SHALEIM or its Yiddish counterpart, which also begins with a SHIN, while PEI can stand for PAY. So the Israeli letter is more suitable for the English word PAY, and the Chutz LaAretz letter is more suited to the Hebrew word.
Not too many solvers this week. Best efforts were submitted by YYW and MM/Bklyn, but no prizes this week. MM/Bklyn did have two good connections between Kayin and Yosef. Different kind of interaction between brothers, but some near-parallel wording. Also, his answer for the Maftir question is that Par’o, who was celebrating his birthday in the Maftir is preempted by the Chanuka reading. Cute.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Eisav, Yaakov x 2, Yosef x ?
[2] Sister-in-law of the mother of royalty is an anagram for royalty
[3] From the name - Twice in the first, with; twice in the second without
[4] Par'o, Bnei Yisrael, G-d, the king, and who before?
[5] items, brothers, voice, prophet; who & what?
A fun question to ask you children at the Shabbat table this week, is “how many candles altogether were lit in this house over the whole Chanuka?” Answers will vary, but remember Shabbat candles as well as Chanuka, and even birthday candles, if...

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