PARSHA-PIX Parshat Sho-f'tim

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Parsha Pix
Upper-left are the symbols of SHO-F’TIM (gavel) and SHO-T’RIM (sheriff’s star).
Negation circle over the planting of a sappling = prohibition of planting trees in the Mikdash or Mizbei’ach area.
Tilted scales = perversion of justice - a recurring theme in the sedra.
Crown is for the mitzva of appointing a king.
He must write a special Torah (quill & parchment).
He may not own an excessive number of horses (3 chess knights is too many).
Gift-wrapped present represents MATANOT, the gifts to a kohein, specific ally the parts of an slaughtered animal .
Negation of veering to the right or left.
Times 2 because all are commanded, and the king is additionally commanded.
Look closely: the cow has a temporary blemish (his ear). May not be a korban until the blemish is gone.
Rabbit in hat stands for magic (but is not the same kind that the Torah forbids).
Ax handle detached from head - classic SHOGEG situation.
Bottom, from left. Three military deferments: Building new house, engagement to marry, and vineyard.
Lower-right is KI HA’ADAM EITZ HASADEH.
That leaves 7 items which are really four, since four of them go together. PixTTriddles.

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 (R’EI) TTriddles:
[1] A confused hint to a kosher mammal and a confused sign for another
[2] From animal to city in two spelling mistakes
[3] arm, head, Va'etchanan, R'ei
[4] Make sure you have a bic parker zebra
plus...
three unexplained elements in the parsha pix

And the envelope please...
[1] This TTriddle was two separate TTriddles in last week’s printed Torah Tidbits, but they belong together, as they were in the electronic versions of TT (website and email). The word “confused” is usually a clue to an anagram, whose letters are all mixed up (confused). Hint is REMEZ, which rearranges to spell ZEMER, the 10th and last animal in the list of kosher mammals (the 7th of the kosher non-domesticated animals). The Living Torah (Rav Aryeh Kaplan z”l) identifies ZEMER as the giraffe. Similarly, sign is OT, the letters of which rearrange to spell TE’O, the 9th animal on the same list. It is identified as the bison or wild ox. Some say the TE’O is an oryx, a large, straight-horned antelope. Aurochs, a sound-alike possible alternate for the oryx, is either the European bison or an extinct wild ox. This combines to favor the T’EO being in the wild branch of the cow family, rather than being an antelope.
[2] This is another TTriddle that stayed with the list of the kosher mammals. Numer 7 on the list is the AKO, spelled ALEF, KUF, VAV. If you double-misspell it, you get AYIN, KAF, VAV with is the city of AKKO or Acre, on the Mediterranean cost between Haifa and Nahariya. The animal AKO is identified as the IBEX, the subject of last week’s MRMH column.
[3] V’HAYA KI Y’VI-ACHA HASHEM... And it will come to pass that G-d will have brought you into Eretz Yisrael... This phrase appears once in Va’etchanan and once in R’ei. It also appears twice in Parshat Bo (once with a spelling variation for Y’VI’ACHA). Those two occurrences in Bo are one each in two of the parshiyot in T’filin - KADEISH and V’HAYA KI Y’VI’ACHA. Hence, the arm and head of the TTriddle.
[4] This one we’ve done before in a different form. Bic, Parker, and Zebra are pen companies. Make sure... is HISHAMER L’CHA PEN... There are actually 9 HISHAMEIR L’CHA PENs in the Torah, two in B’reishit, when Avraham warns Eliezer not to take Yitzchak out of Eretz Yisrael and when G-d warns Lavan to be careful about what he says to Yaakov. In Sh’mot, G-d warns us not to make treaties with the nations in Eretz Yisrael so that we will not fall into their “cultural” traps. The other 6 times are in D’varim, 4 of which (not three as the TTriddle implies - thank you YYW for pointing that out). So the TTriddle needs another pen name (how about Mark Twain or O’Henry - just kidding - pen name, get it?). How about Cross? Better not. Some- one will say we went too far. Maybe Biro, to honor the acknowledged inventor of the ball-point pen. Lazlo Biro (1899-1985), Hungarian inventor.
Which brings us to the unexplained elements of the ParshaPix. We’ll number then [5] and [6]
[5] These could have been taken separately, but they combine neatly into one TTriddle that points to both the sedra and the haftara. The common factor of the two “letter TTriddles” is the word EFES, ALEF- FEI-SAMACH, meaning “naught”. In the sedra (D’varim 15:4), the sequence of words EFES KI LO appears. This is FSKG, with Kg. being kilogram, or kilo for short. In Yeshayahu 54:15, we find the words EFES MEI-OTI. That would be zero from OT or OT-0. If you look carefully (as all serious TTriddlers should), you will notice the difference between the plump O and the thinner zero.
YYW and RHM did the best jobs in solving this week’s TTriddles, and they each are hereby awarded the double prizes from NOAM and BIG DEAL. No one got the last Pix-TTriddle, which is designated as...
[6] It is a memorial candle with 3/4 next to it. Most people associate the candle with Yahrzeit, but in this case it represents YIZKOR. 3/4 is for three of the four times Yizkor is said, namely the Shalosh Regalim. For this TTriddle, reference is to the days that Yizkor is said in Chutz LaAretz - 8th day of Pesach, 2nd day of Shavuot, and Shmini Atzeret. (Yom Kippur is the fourth day of Yizkor.) What makes this a TTriddle for Parshat R’ei is the fact that on the occasion of these 3 of 4 Chutz LaAretz Yizkors, the Torah reading is the same, the one that we don’t have in Israel, the one that comes from Parshat R’ei. Recognizing this as a far-fetched TTriddle (far- fetcheder than most), it did give an opportunity to mention the reading about the Shalosh Regalim from the end of R’ei that is read in Chutz LaAretz but not in Israel. The context of the Holidays in this particular portion is agricultural, land-related. In Chutz LaAretz, the religious and historical aspects are prominent during the Chagim. The one aspect that recedes into the background is the Land-related one. So this portion became the reading for the extra Yom Tov days of Galut. In Israel, there is a natural connection to the Land, making this reading less crucial. Something like that.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Re: conquering & knowing: where and what was said
[2] Victims of ox, sinners, N'zirim, idolators x 2
[3] antelope, bison, buffalo, camel, cow, elephant, elk, giraffe,gnu, hippopotamus, manatee, moose, ox, porpoise,rhinoceros, whale, yak
[4] The mixed up gaslamp shares a pasuk with the untimate vegetarian
plus 7 unexplained items which are really four, since four of them go together in the Parsha Pix Puzzle

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