Torah tidbits
PARSHA-PIX - Parshat Vayeitzei

Parsha Pix
See the KIPA towards the top-middle of the ParshaPix? That’s because we learn from this week’s sedra that Yaakov Avinu wore a kipa. Vayeitzei Yaakov, and Yaakov went out... Would Yaakov go out without a kipa?!

The road sign could have been at the side of the road that Yaakov traveled at the beginning of Vayeitzei, with Be’er Sheva behind him and Charan still to come. En route, Yaakov encounters “The Place” where he spent the night and had his famous dream.

Speaking of which, at the lower-left is the rock he put by his head and the ladder standing on the ground climbing heavenward.

U’FARATZTA, and you shall spread out in all directions, is represented by the compass.

Yaakov promised to give G-d (so to speak) MAASER, one tenth, .1
Along the right side are 10 babies in cradles, with an 11th one facing the other direction (for Dina) and then a 12th one in the boy direction.
The plant above Yaakov’s pillow-rock is a mandrake, the DUDA’IM that Reuven collected for his mother.

Above and slightly to the right of the mandrake is a picture of a hazel nut (hard to make out) which in Hebrew is LUZ, appearing in the sedra twice - as the former name of Beit El and as one of the trees from which Yaakov took branches in the sheep-affair.

Speaking of which, you have two of the sticks Yaakov used to induce the production of the striped, speckled, and plain sheep and goats (in the upper-left).

That leaves the ice cream, G’LIDA, which is the Targum of KERACH in Yaakov’s tirade about his cold nights spent watching over Lavan’s flocks.

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 alsopresentedfor call-in solution on Torah Tidbits Audio (Arutz-7, Thursday night). The best solution set submitted each week (there isnt 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 (TO-L’DOT) TTriddles:

[1] R’ Shabtai b. Meir HaKohen, Vilna, 17th cent.
[2] Yitzchak, Moshe, Mano'ach
[3] He was hairy and he had nice eyes.What was their common feature?
[4] S'guv and the twins
[5] First of the 4th, 89km

And the envelope please...

[1] Known as the SHACH, famous commentator on parts of the Shulchan Aruch. His commentary is called SIFTEI KOHEN, a phrase borrowed from the end of the haftara of To-l’dot.

[2] VAYE’TAR, and he pleaded (before G-d). Only three people in Tanach are described with this word as having prayed to G-d. Yitzchak, in the presence of Rivka, because she was barren. Moshe, at Par’o’s request, to ask G-d to get rid of AROV, and then again, the ARBEH. And Mano’ach, father of Shimshon, who beseeched G-d to sent the angel one more time to tell them (Mano’ach and his wife) what should be done with their son.

[3] Two people in Tanach are called ADMONI, redheads or ruddy complexions: the first was also called hairy, he was EISAV. The other is described as having beautiful eyes and as good-looking. He was David HaMelech.

[4] The Torah makes a point of telling us that Yitzchak was 60 years old when Yaakov and Eisav were born. Only one other birth in Tanach is accompanied by the age of the father at 60. It is in Divrei HaYamim Alef 2:21. CHETZRON is the father, and his son is S’GUV.

[5] The first pasuk of the 4th Aliya in To-l’dot tells us that Yitzchak when from THERE to Be’er Sheva. The last place he was with a name was at the well known as Rehovot. The distance from Rehovot to Be’er Sheva is 89 km.
Several TTriddles solvers did well on this set of TTriddles from To-l’dot. Top honors go to the unbeatable team of MM/Bklyn and his brother DM, with father and son-in-law rounding our the fearsome foursome of solvers.

This week's TTriddles:

[1] His tent, his brothers, shofar. Who, who, who?
[2] Yaakov, Moshe, the whole nation, David
[3] Rachel is to what as who is to Yo'ash?
[4] Consecutive heteronymous verbs with the same subject and homonymic objects (special prize for this one)


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