Torah tidbits
PARSHA-PIX Parshat D'varim

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Parsha Pix

At the top is a speech-bubble which contains the main elements of what Moshe said to the People. He told them about the travels from Egypt to Eretz Yisrael and what happened during those travels, of the victories of the People in several battles they fought (that's the V for victory hand signal), and about Torah and Mitzvot that are the essence of Jewish Life.
Also contained within that speech bubble is the letter D which is marked 24K (very hard to near impossible to see in the hard copy - visible on the website and the .pdf version, and the .gif file) which stands for one of the places Moshe mentioned - DI ZAHAV.
The judge's gavel flanked (above & below) by two negation circles, relates to the mitzvot in the sedra, against appointing judges for the wrong reasons - not because of wealth, nor out of fear or threats. A judge may not be afraid of threats (e.g. the gun).
The arrows indicating DO NOT ENTER to the right and the left, but only straight ahead, stands for the two instances, as related by Moshe, that we approached nations for permission to pass through their land.
The graphic of the spies carrying the cluster of grapes stands for one of the major elements in the sedra, namely CHEIT HAMERAGLIM.
There are also two former PPP-types of graphic elements, this time to be explained. The ghost with the San Francisco Giants logo is a play on the pasuk (2:11), The REFA’IM (ghosts in modern Hebrew; warriors or mighty people in the Biblical context) can be considered giants (or vice versa).
The Roman numerals represent the different “units” of Jews, with their “captains” - thousand, hundred, fifty, and ten.
The silhouettes of the bull and donkey are from the pasuk at the beginning of the haftara in which the prophet contasts us unfavorably with the animals. The bull knows his master and the donkey, his feeding trough. We Jews, human beings, seem to have difficulty in this regard. How can we turn our backs on G-d; how can we disobey Him so, when He is our Master and the source of all sustenance. "Dumb" animals "know" this, but we seem to lose sight of things every so often.
The buttons (computer keys) emanating from a button represents D'varim 2:23.
That leaves three unexplained new elements of this ParshaPix for Parshat D'varim. Consider them as TTriddles.

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. 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 (MATOT-MAS'EI) TTriddles:

[1] Sarah Schenirer's flocks and the residents of the neighborhood bordering 100 gates.
[2] Two consecutive words that are almost Heb-Eng translations
[3] Three is common to the five
[4] If there were six fewer of these, the opening word of the sedra would fit perfectly
[5] So when is Chani Eim coming?
[6] One element from the ParshaPixPuzzle

And the envelope, please...

[1] Sarah Schenirer was the founder of the Bais Yaakov movement. 100 Gates is Me'a She'arim. The neighborhood it borders is Beit Yisra'el. Both Beit Yaakov and Beit Yisra'el are mentioned in the first pasuk of the haftara.
[2] In B'midbar 36:5, Moshe transmits G-d's words concerning the claim of the Menashe-ites. He open- ing words are KEIN MATEI V'NEI MENASHE DO-V'RIM - correctly do the members of Menashe speak. CAIN and MATEH are English-Hebrew almost-synonyms.
[3] Each of the five Midyanite kings have 3-letter names: (Heb.) EVI, REKEM, TZUR, CHUR, REVA.
[4] There are 42 travel-points in the opening section of MAS'EI. 6 fewer and we'd have a nice g'matriya for EILEH MAS'EI... EILEH totals 36.
[5] This was a TTriddle in honor of Israel Center director and TT page 11 columnist, Menachem Persoff. If last Shabbat we announced when MENACHEM AV is coming, then this TTriddle asks when Menachem's wife CHANI EIM is coming. A groaner of a pun, but you have to hear Menachem on a good day. One solver got this TTriddle without making the personal connection to our Menachem; he just felt that the names Chani and Menachem were related.
[6] The unexplained element in last week's Parsha- Pix was 2K with a U with a little stem under it. The U with the shpitz is a YERECH BEN YOMO, the rarest TROP-note in the Torah. (Is the one in Mas'ei the only one? Is there more than one KARNEI PARA?) This note appears under the word ALPAYIM, 2000, that is, 2K.
Every TTriddle this week was solved, at least once. EB did the best job on the set and SC (DH) did a great job as well. SC further pointed out that the Yerech Ben Ymo looks like the letter Y (sort of), making Y2K, as in the feared computer problem of four years ago. Was this perhaps a prophecy of that much publicized but totally unspectacular "event".

This week's TTriddles:

[1] Except Kalev and sound
[2] 27 before, 18 in, 89 after
[3] plus three elements from the ParshaPixPuzzle


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