PARSHA-PIX - Parshat Vayeira
Parsha Pix
Again, we have the new improved version of the ParshaPix, starting with
last year’s and jazzing it up.
Along most of the right side is the
thermometer with kipa, glasses, and stethoscope, wishing someone who is
sick a REFU’A SH’LEIMA. This is one of the lessons we learn from G-d, Who
visited the ailing Avraham.
Upper-right are the UGOT that Sarah Imeinu LUSHIed - if they look like
matza, that’s because the angels’ visit was on Pesach.
Middle-top is one of the three BEN
HABAKAR that Avraham ran to, in order to prepare the most sumptuous dish
for the visitors, namely tongue in mustard sauce.
Over on the top-left is a Braille
message that was a ParshaPixPuzzle from last year. It reminds us of what
the angels did to the people of S’dom who demanded of Lot that he send his
visitors out to them. The Braille message is probably something the
blinded S’domites wanted to do to Lot. It says, “Kill Lot”.
The skull is the symbol of acid-rain, a
good description of that which destroyed S'dom and the other cities.
Wine? Lot was given wine to make him
drunk...
In the Pix there is an alarm clock set
for very early in the morning, to remind us of the many times the Torah
tells us that Avraham got up early, to enthusiastically d o G-d’s bidding.
The baby in the cradle represents the
birth of Yitzchak.
The strange-shaped drawing of a metal shield is used by many mohalim in
their set up for Mila.
Father & son holding hands, And the two
of them walked together...
Bottom is the Akeida scene from Davka's Judaica clipart series. The Shofar
"comes" from the ram caught up in the bramble, the one that replaced
Yitzchak on the Mizbei'ach.
The olive oil is for the miracle
recounted in the Haftara.
That leaves two other graphics, which
are related to each other. Through whom? (They are PPPs.)
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 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 (LECH L’CHA) TTriddles:
[1] Who might confuse S'dom and Tzo'ar
[2] Who in the sedra was the major founder of a famous Jerusalem yeshiva
at the suggestion of the Ben Ish Chai?
[3] The Water Judgment, the Land, all the land, his servants, Yaakov
[4] Adam, Avra(ha)m, people
[5] & [6] 2 items from the ParshaPix (page 3)
And the envelope please...
[1] This is a weird one (as opposed to all the not-weird ones we always
have). And in addition to its weirdness, the names of people and places
were confused. It goes like this. BERA was the king of S’dom. BELA, whose
king does not seemed to be named was the newer name of TZO’A. The names
BERA and BELA would be most confused by Japanese speakers (as in the
supplies-surprise joke and others). Since we’re talking on the level of
royalty, the correctest solution for this TTriddle is the Emperor of
Japan.
[2] Hey, this is another weird one. And another one based on a slight
mistake. So now I understand why no one got this one. There was a real
short D.T. attributed to the Beit Yisrael about how service of HaShem (as
personified by Avraham) must be a process of moving and growing. He cites
phrases such as VAYEILECH AVRAM, VAYISA AVRAM, and VAYOSEF AVRAHAM for the
statement. I did not pay attention to the fact that VAYOSEF AVRAHAM was
not from Lech L’cha (since the Dvar Torah was for Lech L’cha) and just
grabbed on to the sound alike feature to the name YOSEF AVRAHAM. I
searched for that name and came up with Yosef Avraham Shalom, a prominent
philanthropist from Calcutta from the time of the Ben Ish Chai (19th
century). The latter convinced the former to finance the establishment of
the Porat Yosef and Oz Vehadar yeshivot in Yerusha- layim.
[3] Okay. This one’s a “normal” TTriddle. The answer is EIN (AYIN-YUD-NUN),
which precedes the words HAMAYIM and MISHPAT in Parshat Lech L’cha, and
the words, HAARETZ, KOL HAARETZ, AVDO and SHIFCHATO (one’s male or female
non-Jewish EVED (servant/slave), and the name YAAKOV, all else- where in
the Torah.
[4] The common factor here is TARDEIMA, a special kind of deep sleep. The
word is used with ADAM when HaShem made/separated CHAVA from him. With
AVRAhaM, the term is used in context of the Brit Bein HaB’tarim. In Iyov,
it is ANASHIM that are the object of TARDEIMA.
This leaves us with two (really three) elements in last week’s ParshatPix.
There was a picture of Queen Elizabeth with the word “queen” under it.
That gives us BRIT-MILA (a British person and a word). Let’s call this one
[5].
[6] Was the hammer and nails. They are straight out of the Haftara.
Nothing clever. Just to see who pays attention to the Haftara.
And the other element of the PP which we meant to explain on page 9, but
left out inadvertently, was the KEEP OFF THE GRASS sign in the upper-left
corner of the ParshaPix. It represents the cause of the quarrels between
the shepherds of Avraham, who were taught and trained by Avraham to
respect a sign like that, and those of Lot, who, we are taught, allowed
their sheep to graze on land that belonged to other people.
This week's TTriddles:
[1] Same result, different recipe - she and they
[2] 9 in a warm holiday, Living Torah (L.T.) heard thus
[3] Avraham thrice? What? And who 4 times?
[4] Early in the morning, after many days, in the wee hours of the night -
what and who?
[5] Plus 2 items in the Parsha Pix
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