PARSHA-PIX Rosh Hashana

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Parsha Pix
The ParshaPix is a familiar collection of Rosh HaShana items, yet it can be the stimulus to discussions with your family and guests.
You have your shofar and your apple and honey.
You have pomegranate and the head of a fish, as two representatives of the "SIMANIM" at the Rosh HaShana table.
The crown, Akeida sceen, and Moshe on Sinai are three of the themes of Shofar.
And then there is the Tashlich scene in the upper- left of the ParshaPix.
Standard things; nothing hard. But it will work well with younger children. See who spots the ram caught in the bush by its horns.

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 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 (Nitzavim-Vayeilech) TTriddles:
[1] Freckles are hereditary
[2] The missing city
[3] Nitzavim-Vayeilech has enough for Simchat Torah
[4] Everyone in each
[5] from Arcturus’s (probably) to Sadalmelik’s
[6] First alone then with his successor
[7] Yaakov, no; Moshe, yes; who else yes?
[8] Final score: Nunson 6 - Koenig 2

And the envelope please...
[1] This was a nice & easy TTriddle, gotten by several solvers (which does not take away from the accomplishment of solving TTriddles). Freckles are dots upon one’s face. There is a scribal tradition to write dots above the words LANU ULVANEINU (plus the AYIN of the next word, AD). With freckles on both “us” and “our children”, the TTriddle-conclusion to be drawn is that freckles are hereditary.
[2] Back in Vayeira when G-d tells Avraham Avinu about His plans for Sedom and environs, Avraham pleads on behalf of the people of the area and insists that if there are 50 worthy people then the cities should be spared. Rashi explains that Avraham was hoping for ten people in each of the five cities to save them all from destruction. The cities were Sedom, Amora, Adma, Tz’voyim, and Bela, a.k.a. Tzo’ar. We had learned the names of the cities of the Sedom confederacy in Lech Lecha in the Torah’s description of the battle of the four kings against the five. All five cities were slated for destruction, but as Lot and family were fleeing Sedom, he ask the angels for permission to take refuge in Tzo’ar, and it was spared because of that. That is why the Torah in Nitzavim tells us about the four cities that were destroyed. The missing city is BELA/TZO’AR.
[3] For the Torah reading on Simchat Torah, we need three Sifrei Torah. (If a shul has only one or two Torahs, they still read all three readings, of course, but they have to roll the scroll (Roll the Scroll - sounds like the title of a Shlock Rock song), which for Simchat Torah includes rolling from the very end back until the very beginning. Make sure you have a gabbai with strong arms and wrists for the job. But we digress. The words Sefer HaTorah or B’Sefer HaTorah appear 10 times in Tanach - four in D’varim, twice each in Yehoshua and Melachim Bet, and once each in Nechemya and Divrei HaYamim. Of the four in D’varim, three are in Nitzvim-Vayeilech - enough for Simchat Torah.
[4] The beginning of Nitzavim speaks of all the people standing before G-d. In Vayeilech we have the mitzva of HAK-HEIL, again requiring everyone to be present. So everyone is in each of the two sedras, Nitzavim and Vayeilech.
[5] A few veteran solvers knew what this TTriddle was intended for, but di not have all the pieces of the puzzle in place. Here it is. Arcturus is the alpha star of the constellation Bootes (pronounced bo-O-tez), the herdsman or plowman. There are various legends about the names of constellations and stars. An ancient legend about this constellation is that it was named in honor of the inventor of the plow. (The Big Dipper, which is part of the Great Bear, is also known as the Plow.) The inventor of the plow must have (probably) cut down a tree or two and therefore Arcturus in this TTriddle represents CHOTEIV EITZECHA, the wood-cutters. Sadalmelik is the alpha star of Aquarius, the Water Drawer, completing the phrase in Nitzavim, from your wood- cutters to your water drawers.
[6] The answer is VAYEILECH. First, we find VAYEILECH MOSHE. Alone. Later in the sedra, it says VAYEILECH MOSHE VIHOSHUA, with his successor.
[7] In the Torah, ther term B’ACHARIT HAYAMIM, in the End of Days, appears four times. Yaakov, no - because he wanted to talk about it with his children, but G-d withdrew the RU’ACH AHKODESH from him. In Nitzavaim-Vayeilech, Moshe does speak about it to the people. The other person in the Torah who also spoke about ACHARIT HAYAMIM was... drumroll - BIL’AM.
[8] Kol HaKavod to DM for this one, which he solve, by his own word, with hard detective work - none of this computer search stuff. Nunson is Yehoshua, son of Nun. The phrase CHAZAK VE-EMATZ (or something like that) appears six times associated with Yehoshua. Koenig means king. There are two uses of that phrase between David HaMelech and his son Shlomo.
Again, the ParshaPix was unexplained last week, due to lack of space in the issue. Of note in the PP are George Washington who (supposedly) chopped down the cherry tree and Jack & Jill who went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Therefore together they represent the same phrase from the beginning of Nitzavim as TTriddle [5].
There is also a plant growing a tzedaka box, as in the haftara (specifically, Yeshayahu 61:11) - so too will G-d... YATZMI’ACH TZEDAKA...
Winner this week is YYW with honorable mention (and a CD from NOAM) to DM and RHM.
Here’s the TTriddle that was left out of the reoprt on p.14,36. 5,6,7, MAZAL TOV. Sheva Brachot, specifically the 5th, 6th, and 7th. First pasuk in the haftara has SOS ASIS and Chatan & Kallah...

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Pre-shofar is to p'sukim as what is to words?
[2] Actually there are at least 3000
[3] In the desert, 29:1 might lead a person from Bujumbura to his Independence Day
[4] What's the difference between an aardvark and its primary prey?
[5] It was 2085 at the time
[6] 3 consecutive letters in reverse order say it all!
[7] We read about him this Shabbat, but we don't say the prayer his name reminds us of
[8] Seder RH brings to mind two other months
[9] 30 blasts "sitting" and 30 what standing?
[10] Remove the hydrogen and sulfur, add barium and shake well - it's almost 3 weeks later
[11] What do you feed horses on Rosh Hashana?
[12] Mincha Gedola is 2:00am (not really) When and Why?

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