PARSHA-PIX Parshat Pinchas

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Parsha Pix
A classic ParshaPix with many plays-on-words to explore & enjoy with family and guests.
Upper-right are contradictory symbol of war (the spear) and peace (the dove with olive branch). Pinchas' act of "violence" was rewarded by the Covenant of Peace. It works this way, sometimes. Pacifism does not necessarily always lead to peace and sometimes, forceful offensive action can.
The Brit Shalom is the Kehuna, symbolized by the CHOSHEN.
The broken 6 represents the broken VAV.
The small 10 is for the small YUD in Pinchas.
The large 50 is for the large NUN SOFIT referring to the claim of the daughters of TZ'lofchad.
Bill Cosby stands for his Midyanite namesake.
The calculator stands for the counting of the people.
The lambs represent the two daily T'MIDIM, or the Musaf of Shabbat - both of which are mitzvot from this week's sedra.
Along the bottom...
The binoculars are for Moshe Rabeinu to look out over the Land...
There is a collection of symbols representing Shabbat (candle sticks), Pesach (3 matzot), Shavuot (Har Sinai with the Luchot), Rosh HaShana (apple and honey - the shofar is extra because it is one of this sedra's mitzvot), Yom Kippur (the scales), Sukkot (the sukka, sort of).
The Citadel of David represents Jerusalem. With ears you have the words towards the end of the haftara - B'OZNEI YERUSHALAYIM.
That leaves the nastalgic inclusion of one of the very first ParshaPixPuzzles. It reads from left to right. First is a candy CANE inside a musical NOTE. Which gives us KEIN B'NOT... Next is a sniper, TZALAF in Hebrew. Combined with the 1 gives us TZELOF-CHAD. The bear is a DOV and the piece of the multiplication table reminds us of the method by which many of us had to learn it - namely, by ROTE. All together, we have G-d's answer through Moshe to Machla, No'a, Chogla, Milka, and Tirtza: KEIN B'NOT TZELOFCHAD DO'V'ROT... Depending upon the age of your children and/or the background of your Shabbat guests, you can work them through this classic PPP. ParshaPix is meant to be a springboard to a Sedra review.

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 (BALAK) TTriddles:
[1] Kayin, Avimelech, Avraham, Yaakov, Moshe, Par'o, Bil'am
[2] to Moshe, to Yitzchak, to Yaakov
[3] Bil'am 9, the Shunamit 1
[4] The 300,000 had this in addition to what Pinchas had
[5] Total count: 18+8. In Parshat Balak - G-d, Balak, and Bil'am
[6] Eliezer, the Nation, Moshe, Bil'am, David, Shaul, and...?
[7] plus two elements from the ParshaPixPuzzle

And the envelope, please...
[1] VAYAwKAwM somebody - Ashkenazis pronunciation because the KAMATZes are different from each other. These are the names that the Torah says, and so-and-so arose. For Bil'm, it's 3 times in Balak.
[2] UL-YISRA-EL, and to Israel. Just three times in the Torah, preceded by UL-MOSHEH, UL-YITZCHAK, and UL-YAAKOV (this last one in Balak).
[3] HA-ATON, the donkey. The word appears 10 times in Tanach - 9 with Bil'am in Parshat Balak, and only one other time, with the SHUNAMIT in Melachim.
[4] Pinchas took a ROMACH (spear) in hand. In Divrei HaYamim (Bet 25:5), Amazya formed an army of 300,000 people from Yehuda and Binyamin, each armed with a ROMACH and a TZINA (shield).
[5] VAYICHAR AF... is the term for someone being angry. The term is used to describe G-d's "anger" 18 times in Tanach, and in addition, there are 8 people whose names follow the term. In Parshat Balak, the term is used once for G-d and once each for Bil'am and Balak. (The other 6 people who "got angry" are Yaakov, Moshe, Eliav, Sha'ul, David, and Elihu.)
[6] VAYIKOD, and he bowed (with the head, as opposed to L'HISHTACHAVOT, which is to prostrate oneself). The word appears only 7 times in Tanach. The six in the TTriddle and Yehoshafat.
[7] The water pouring from the pitcher is a phrase in the haftara.
[8] One the reverse side of a US dollar bill is a picture of the Great Seal: A pyramid with an all-seeing eye on top. Sometimes called the enlightened eye. Bil'am calls himself the man with SH'TUM HA-AYIN. Living Torah brings several translations: enlightened, future-seeing, seeing, open, true-sighted, sleepless, evil, dislocated, blinded. (See also D. Brown's Angels and Demons.)

This week's TTriddles:
[1] One of two of three (times 2) (Special stand-alone TTriddle challenge)
[2] Top of the 5th can be first; bottom of the 5th can be last
[3] The befuddled barefoot sea
[4] Gad got double on the 8+2+14
[5] Reuven, Menashe • Shimon, Gad, Zevulun, Efrayim, Binyamin, Asher • Yehuda • Yissachar, Dan, Naftali
[6] What connects Pinchas to Yitzchak, Eliyahu, and Yirmiyahu?

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