PARSHA-PIX Parshat To-l'dot
Click on image for enlargement
Parsha Pix
Classic ParshaPix again this week, with two additions which will be PPPs (ParshaPixPuzzles,
sort of like a visual TTriddle).
Top-left is Yaakov with his lentil stew. Next to him is one of Yitzchak's
workers on a break from digging wells. Continuing across the top, we come
to a Seder plate. Rashi tells us that it was the first night of (the
future) Pesach that Yaakov presented himself to Yitzchak for the bracha.
Rivka told Yaakov to bring her two goats. Just to feed Yitzchak, you need
two goats? Rashi answers that one was for the main dish and the other for
Korban Pesach. Upper-right is a king on his father's back. The hand is
pointing to the father, who would be AVIMELECH. This is not the only pun
in this week's ParshaPix, as you will see. The rain cloud is part of the
bracha that Yaakov received. The sword is part of the bracha to Eisav. The
lion cub on the map of Israel is another pun - GUR BAARETZ HAZOT.
Actually, live in this Land... The tow truck is another pun - Yitzchak
lived in GERAR. Tow is also a reminder of the first syllable of the name
of the sedra. TO-L'DOT, rather than the more common (but mistaken) TOL-DOT.
The passport is for Yaakov who is being sent abroad by both Yitzchak and
Rivka. Yitzchak never needed a passport, but Yaakov did. The teddy bear is
holding aloft the number 7 in one paw and an upraised hand in the other.
There are two meanings to the name Be'er Sheva. One is from the seven
sheep that Avraham gave Avimelech as a token of the covenant between them,
and the other is for the oath(s) that were taken in that agreement. SHEVA
has both connotations. And in the lower-right is the Davka Judaica Graphic
of Yaakov, the studious ISH TAM, dweller in the tent of Torah study, and
Eisav, the ISH SADEH, the man of the field, the hunter. That leaves the
two new elements. Your mission, should you accept it, is to find those two
elements figure out their meaning. If you... should be caught, the
secretary will disavow... This tape...
Last issue’s (Chayei Sara) TTriddles:
Identical words ban whom from what?
Avraham, Yishmael, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and who?
Rivka and the Three Queens
Eliezer, Yonah, Koresh, Nechemia
x to find her; 3x from son to son
People from here are early risers
The arrow? (from the ParshaPix)
And the envelope, please...
[1] There were some good attemptrs at this one, but the “official”
(originally intended) answer is SIM NA YADCHA TACHAT Y’REICHI, the words
of the oath that Avraham administered to Eliezer, banning his taking
Yitzchak out of Eretz Yisrael. The same words were used by Yaakov Avinu in
the oath he administered to Yosef, banning his (Yaakov’s) burial in
Mitzrayim.
[2] VAYIGVA, and he died (breathed his last breath - the word obviously
has a slightly different meaning than he died, because it is sometimes
followed by VAYAMOT, and he died). In addition to Avraham, Yishmael,
Yitzchak, and Yaakov, the word is used to describe the demise from the
Flood of every living thing.
[3] Rivka and Vashti (queen), Esther (queen), and Bat Sheva (queen,
although the word is not used for her, as it is for Vashti and Esther) are
all described as TOVAT MAR-EH, good looking. Although only these four
women are called TOVAT MAR-EH, there are other, similar terms for beauty
that describe other women (and men), e.g. Y’FEI TO-AR, Y’FEI MAR-EH,
YAFA.YAFEH. And, in some cases, the superlative M’OD or AD M’OD is added -
exceedingly beautiful.
[4] Here is an example of a TTriddle that contains a mistake, and yet
several people solved it. It was not Eliezer, but Avraham, when he was
instructing Eliezer, who referred to G-d as HASHEM ELOKEI HASHAMAYIM.
Curiosity, which is very often responsible for TTriddles, led to a
computer search of Tanach to find others who referred to G-d in exactly
the same way. The search yielded three others: Yona, when his concerned
shipmates asked him who he was and what he was doing, etc. - this after
the lottery had fallen on him as the cause of the trouble at sea they were
all experiencing. He identified himself as a Jew who fears HaShem, the G-d
of the Heavens. Koresh, king of Persia, is quoted twice - once in the book
of Ezra and once in Divrei HaYamim - as acknowledging HASHEM ELOKEI
HASHAMAYIM for all the lands that he ruled, and for charging him to build
G-d’s House in Yerushalayim. And Nechemya used the phrase in prayer on
behalf of the people of Israel.
[5] x=10 camels. Avraham sent Eliezer with 10 camels to find Rivka. And
one of her sons, Yaakov, gave her other son, Eisav, 30 camels (among other
animals) as a gift of appeasement.
[6] ARAM NAHARAYIM occurs twice in the Torah, once as the hometown of
Avraham Avinu and once as the hometown of Bil’am HaRasha. Pirkei Avot
contrasts these two people and puts them at diametrically opposed poles of
personality traits. Commentaries ezplain that when the Torah tells us
about someone geting up early in the morning, it indicates an enthusiasm
towards some goal. Avraham avinu rose early in the morning, saddled his
own donkey (another indication of enthusiasm), to set out at G-d’s command
to the Akeida. L’havdil, Bil’am is also described as rising (early) in the
morning and saddling his own donkey, to enthusiastically accompany the
delegation from Balak. People from Aram Naharayim are early risers.
[7] The arrow in last week’s ParshaPix connected two elements of the PP to
produce this TTriddle. The gift package and the bull. This is a play on
words for the travels of of the family of Yishmel. They traveled from
CHAVILA (sound-alike, different spelling of the word for package) to SHUR
(spelled like SHOR but the dot of the VAV is in its middle rather than
above its head).
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