PARSHA-PIX - Parshat T'tzaveh

Parsha Pix
The sedra begins with the command to take pure olive oil and use it to light the Menora daily in the Mikdash, so that it will burn (at least) from evening until morning. (Upper-left and center.)
The shell in the upper right-hand corner is Murex Trunculus, the snail which is thought, by a growing number of scholars and rabbis, to be the source of T'CHEILET, mentioned often in our sedra in connection to the garments of the Kohen Gadol. See EXTRA page for more on MT.
The gemstones under MT are for the CHOSHEN. 3 of the 12 are shown here.
The chain is for connecting the CHOSHEN to the EIFOD.
Of course, that's the Kohen Gadol on the bottom-left. This is one of Davka's Judaica Graphics.
The silhouettes of the bull and two adult male sheep (a.k.a. rams) are the inaugural korbanot of the kohanim. The matza represents the Mincha offerings that accompanied the animal sacrifices. Most, but not all, Menachot were halachically matza.
At the bottom are two lambs for the twice-daily T'MIDIM. Although the mitzva to bring the T'midim is learned from Parshat Pinchas, the T'midim are also mentioned here in T'tzaveh.
Above the lambs is the Golden Altar, a.k.a. the Incense Mizbei'ach and the Inner Altar. The command to make this Mizbei'ach does not appear in T'rumah with the rest of the main items of the Mishkan, but rather in T'tzaveh.
The heart with the graduation cap represents the CHACHMEI LEIV, the skilled weavers, etc. who did the work on the garments and other Mikdash requirements.
The pomegranate and bell are for the bottom of the ME’IL of the Kohein Gadol.
That leaves three items as ParshaPixPuzzles, or graphic TTriddles, if you prefer that name.

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 (T’RUMAH) TTriddles:
[1] They weren't preparing for a Gulf war, yet...
[2] Rachel & Leah and Leah's granddaughter
[3] Rotate the Mishkan 90° counter-clockwise and you’d have a cute bilingual alliteration
[4] One more than B&B, thrice
[5] Physical description of part of the Mishkan and Mikdash but very unflattering when describing a person. (Where?)
[6] Double Tzelafchad's daughter
[7] Bambi's friend panic champions

And the envelope please...
[1] Amazing pasuk in the haftara (which is from the description of the building of the Beit HaMikdash from Melachim Alef 5) which can be read TTriddle- style as: And you shall make for the house clear windows sealed (ATUMIM). As pointed out by one of the solvers, the pasuk means something else, but the words sure remind us of the sealed rooms — may we not have reason to go through that again.
[2] This one got a little messed up, but a few solvers got it anyway. Rachel and Leah are “a woman and her sister”, which is the phrase the Torah uses for the joining of the two halves of the Mishkan with the “buttons” and loops. It is also used in the descrip- tion of the pegs at the bottom of each wall-board.
As far as Leah’s granddaughter, it should have said Zilpa’s granddaughter (although the children of Zilpa were considered Leah’s in a way). Be that as it may, the reference was to SERACH, Asher’s daughter. Her name was spelled with a SIN, but that interchanges often with a SAMACH, as in the word describing the extra length of the OHEL covering that was draped over the back wall of the Mishkan.
[3] If you rotate the Mishkan 90° counter-clockwise, you end up with the west wall being on the south. That sets us up for a cute bilingual play on words. Because then the TEIMANA (one of the terms in the pasuk for south) wall would have T’MANYA (see Onkeles) K’RASHIM, wall bopards. Bilingual, because one word is Hebrew and the other is Aramaic.
[4] B&B was not meant to be Bed & Breakfast, nor the pretzel company in Israel. It stands for Barnum & Bailey, as in the circus. That circle is famous for its three rings. One more than that is four rings, which appear thrice, three times, in the sedra. The ARON, SHULCHAN, and MIZBEI’ACH (the outdoor, copper, earth, korbanot one) all had four rings on their edges to receive the carrying poles..
[5] The answer is NAVUV. The word struck me as unusual. it means hollow and it is used to describe the Mizbei’ach (Altar) which was made hollow (and then filled with earth when the Mishkan was set up). In the book of Yirmiyahu (52:21) it describes certain pillars as being hollow. But in IYOV, it describes a person. It is not complimentary at all. Applied to a person it means hollow in the head, in other words, stupid. The pasuk in Iyov says that a stupid person shall become wise when a donkey’s offspring will become a person. Would you agree that it is an unflattering term when applied to a person?
[6] Double Tzelafchad’s daughters is a continuation of TTriddle [2]. Again, with ISHA EL ACHOTA, a woman to her sister. But this time it refers to the Torah’s use of the term in describing the panels of the Mishkan, 10 in number, that were woven separately, and then FIVE were sewn together - ISHA EL ACHOTA, like the five daughters of Tzelafchad. This formed two large sections of the Mishkan, which were joined together with the loops and buttons, as mentioned earlier.
[7] This one was solved by the most solvers. Bambi’s friend is Thumper, but not for this TTriddle. Among the famous fawn’s many friends was a skunk named Flower. Panic is the first half of a two-word phrase, Panic Button, and the champions in various sports are awarded a trophy or loving cup. In Hebrew, it is known as a GAVI’AH. Together with the KAFTOR and PERACH, these three terms are given to the ornimentation of the Menorah’s branches.
Once again - BORING! - top honors go to the Gersten Gang for their solutions and extra comments and observations. Not for the first time did they come up with better or sharper solutions than we did. For example, the term (V’)ISHA EL ACHOTA is used in the forbidden relations in Parshat Acharei. A man may not marry two sisters. This makes Rachel and Leah a particularly appropriate choice among any other two sisters for this TTriddle. Let this be a KOL HAKAVOD to the Gerstens and a challenge to other solvers - new or veteran - to get down to some serious (but fun) work. And I’m just kidding, nothing related to TTriddles is boring. (At least some people agree with us on this.) Honorable mention to MM and his daughter, for their last-minute solutions and attempts.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Three or two, rather than four
[2] 1 of 13 (or 14) 3-W P (Motza"Sh)
[3] 28 initial and 4 others last week; 13 initial and 3 others this week
[4] What color is woven miracle-bread?
[5] From Yechezkeil to Shimon HaTzadik
[6] The haftara's counterpart to the ultimate tzizit pasuk
[7] Non-kohein, but he wore one
[8] The closest to its real color

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