PARSHA-PIX Parshat R'ei

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Parsha Pix
There's Har Grizim in the upper left, blessed with full green foliage.
Next to it is Har Eival with a dead tree representing its curse-role.
At the upper right is an eraser with the negation circle. It is forbidden to erase the seven special names of G-d.
To its left is the negation circle on a plus or minus, for the two prohibitions of adding or diminishing from the Torah.
The Tzedaka box is for the mitzva of giving Tzedaka, which is counted from this sedra. Lending to a fellow Jew is an important mitzva (that’s the hands and the wallet), especially as the Shmita year approaches and then draws to a close.
The stalk of wheat is a reminder of the mitzvot of Maaser Sheni and Maaser Ani as well as the prohibition of eating Maaser Sheni (and several other sacred foods) outside Yerushalayim (or their specific venues). The wheat standing straight up looks like the numeral 1. The dot to its left is the decimal point that turns the wheat into 1/10 - Maaser.
The burning trees in the lower right stand for the destruction of AVODA ZARA from Eretz Yisrael.
The sword is the method of dealing with a bona fide IR HANIDACHAT.
The third negation circle is on the camel, a non-kosher animal.
The giraffe, on the other hand, gets two thumbs up - one for cud-chewing and one for split hooves.
The steak on the plate ready to be eaten points out that even though sacred meat was a topic of several mitzvot in the sedra, so is BASAR TA'AVA, meat that we may eat. This was forbidden during the years of wandering, but will be permitted in Eretz Yisrael.
In the lower left is a representation of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, the topic of the last portion of the sedra.
The milk carton and wine bottle are from the haftara, where we are told that they will be acquired free of charge (or something like that).
The smiley is for the mitzva to be joyous on the Chagim.
The Omer box is for the mitzva in R'ei to count the weeks. Some opinions actually consider this an independent mitzva; most combine it with counting days.
That leaves four as yet unexplained elements. TTriddles. Busy sedra. Enjoy.

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 (EIKEV) TTriddles:
[1] The Yaakov- and Yehoshua-like Sh’ma words
[2] It’s just like a volume of Gemara
[3] 7-10: 5 X 1 X 7 X 5 X 3 X 10 X 13 Ha-X 4; X=?
[4] 495 yrs. 5 months... and then some
[5] More than what Amalek did to you...
[6] One unexplained element from the ParshaPix

And the envelope, please...
[1] Yaakov and Yehoshua usually are spelled with no and one VAV respectively. Once in a while, Yaakov is spelled with a VAV (5 of 350 occurrences in Tanach) and Yehoshua with two VAVs (twice of 218 occurrences). The two SH’MA words are L’TATAFOT and M’ZUZOT. In the first parsha of SH’MA (from Va’etchanan), the words are spelled LAMED- TET-TET-FEI-TAV and MEM-ZAYIN-ZAYIN-VAV-TAV. In Eikev, second parsha of SH’MA, we find LAMED- TET-VAV-TET-FEI-TAV and MEM-ZAYIN-VAV-ZAYIN- VAV-TAV.
[2] The pages of Gemara are numbered from BET and up; ALEF is conspicuously missing. So too the word MEIREISHIT (HASHANA), from the beginning of the year... (D’varim 11:12).
[3] X=ERETZ. Perek 8, p'sukim 7 through 10. The word ERETZ appears 7 times. The numbers in the TTriddle are the number of words from one ERETZ to another.
[4] VAI-HI MIKEITZ... And it came to pass after (time)... This phrase occurs 12 times in Tanach. 9 of those times, it is followed by a specific amount of time - years, months, or days. E.g. in Eikev, 40 days and 40 nights. The other three times, it is followed by a vague YAMIM, days, or YAMIM RABIM, many days. The total time after VAI-HI MIKEITZ... comes to 495 years, 5 months and then some (for the 3 non- specific times). [Note: the original TTriddle had 475 years; a mistake in calculation, but covered by the "and then some".]
[5] In Dvarim 7:18, Moshe Rabeinu tells the people not to be afraid of the nations that will be encountered upon entry into Eretz Yisrael, ZACHOR TIZKOR, remember well what G-d did to Par'o and all of Egypt. For Amalek, the Torah commands ZACHOR what Amalek did to you... ZACHOR TIZKOR seems to imply more than ZACHOR alone.
[6] The unexplained element in the ParshaPix was easy for anyone who took the trouble to check it out (or for anyone fluent in Italian). FICO is FIG in Italian. That means that all Seven Species were represented in the ParshaPix.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Change of one vowel changes the halachic status of classmates
[2] According to Moshe in Va'etchanan, it wasn't done
[3] 51129029974045
[4] Can a giraffe carry a tune?
[5] This time, at least, it is partnered with what seems to fit, but still with a significant difference.
[6] plus 4 elements from the ParshaPixPuzzle

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