
PARSHA-PIX Parshat Vayeitzei

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Parsha Pix
See the KIPA towards the top-middle of the ParshaPix? That’s because we
learn from this week’s sedra that Yaakov Avinu wore a kipa. Vayeitzei
Yaakov, and Yaakov went out... Would Yaakov go out without a kipa?!
The road sign could have been at the side of the road that Yaakov traveled
at the beginning of Vayeitzei, with Be’er Sheva behind him and Charan
still to come. En route, Yaakov encounters “The Place” where he spent the
night and had his famous dream.
Speaking of which, at the lower-left is the rock he put by his head and
the ladder standing on the ground climbing heavenward.
U’FARATZTA, and you shall spread out in all directions, is represented by
the compass.
Yaakov promised to give G-d (so to speak) MAASER, one tenth, .1
Along the right side are 10 babies in cradles, with an 11th one facing the
other direction (for Dina) and then a 12th one in the boy direction, for
Yosef.
The plant above Yaakov’s pillow-rock is a mandrake, the DUDA’IM that
Reuven collected for his mother.
There are two of the sticks Yaakov used to induce the production of the
striped, speckled, and plain sheep and goats.
That leaves the ice cream, G’LIDA, which is the Targum of KERACH in
Yaakov’s tirade about his cold nights spent watching over Lavan’s flocks.
It seems that Hebrew took the Aramaic word for ice, changed the final
letter from ALEF to HEI and decided to use it for ice cream.
There are three unexplained elements in the Parsha- Pix; they are
pictorial 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. Some TTriddles are alsopresentedforcall-insolution 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 (TO-L'DOT) TTriddles:
[1] Three boys, three teens, five adults, and...?
[2] Yitzchak’s servants and who & who?
[3] Yitzchak to Yaakov, G-d to Moshe and [L] Bil’am
[4] Aside from many names, only three are called this way
[5] & [6] The unexplained elements from the ParshaPix (page 3)
And the envelope, please
[1] VAYIGDAL, and he grew up. A search in Tanach for
VAV-YUD-GIMEL-DALET-LAMED produces 18 hits. Take away V’YIGDAL, VIGADEIL
(twice), and VAIGADEIL and that leaves 15 VAYIGDALs. Three times in Tanach,
the phrase VAYIGDAL HAYELED, and the boy grew up, appears. The YELED in
question are Yitzchak, Moshe, and the son of the Shunamit. Three times,
the phrase VAYIGDAL HANAAR, and the lad (let’s say TEEN) grew up. This
time, the references are to Yishma’el, Shimshon, and Shmuel HaNavi. Once,
the phrase VAYIGDAL HA-ISH appears. Here again, it is Yitzchak that
“grows”. The other references are to “my master” (that is Avraham Avinu,
as stated by Eliezer), Moshe when he went out to see what was happening
with his brethren, Shmuel HaNavi by name, Shlomo HaMelech (twice), and...
the sin of the people (mentioned in Eicha).
[2] VAY’HI BAYOM HAHU, and it happened on that day... Wouldn’t you expect
that this phrase appears morew than twice in all of Tanach? Only twice.
Once with the servants of Yitzchak who reported to Yitzchak about the well
they had dug. And again, with Eli HaCohen and Shmuel, the then almost Navi.
[3] KUM LEICH - Get up and go. That command is issued three times in the
Torah. Yitzchak tells Yaakov to get up and go to Padan Aram, to the home
of Betuel, your maternal grandfather, and take from there a wife from
among the daughters of your uncle Lavan. G-d comes toBil’am at night and
tells him, if the people have come to summon him, then get up and go with
them; but only do that which I will tell you. [L] is for L’HAVDIL. Moshe
Rabeinu tells us that G-d said to him, get up and go and lead the People
to the Land that I (G-d) had promised their ancestors to give to them.
[4] This was a potentially tricky TTriddle, because the words can be
misunderstood and thereby divert the attention of a would-be solver in the
wrong direction. It all started with the words VAYIKRA ET. There are over
200 VAYIKRAs in Tanach and they mostly mean And he called to (somebody) or
he called (something). For calling to somebody, the word VAYIKRA is either
followed by EL (to) or L’ (also, to). Sometimes there are intervening
words, but that’s the usual format for VAYIKRA when it is another person
(or G-d) who is being called. Very often, the word is used when someone
names something. Of 23 VAYIKRA ETs - e.g. Sheit too had a son and he
CALLED HIS NAME Enosh, G-d created them male and female, He blessed
them,and He called their names Adam on the day He created them, and He
called his name Yisrael, And he called the name of the place Beit El - 17
of them are namings. In the Torah, aside from the many names, only three
people are called this way, meaning with the words VAYIKRA ET (rather than
EL or L’) - namely (pun intended), Yitzchak calls EISAV (in Toldot, that’s
why this is a TTriddle for that sedra), Par’o calls his wizards (to
interpret his disturbing dream(s)), and again Par’o, who calls YOSEF (who
is taken from the dungeon).
[5] Which brings us to the two PPP elements in the ParshaPix. One is a
gate contained within the letter C. C is 100 in Roman numerals, gate is a
SHA’AR, hence ME’AH SHE’ARIM, which is a well-known Jerusalem
neighborhood, but in the context Parshat To-l’dot (where the term comes
from) it refers to the success of Yitzchak’s harvest, that the yield was
100 times that which would be expected.
[6] And then there are the names of the two streets where the Israel
Center was or is located - Straus and Keren HaYesod. The particular choice
of streets is irrelevant; the fact that they are streets is all that
counts for this TTriddle. Streets are RECHOVOT, as in the name of the
city, but in the context of the sedra, the name of the third well that
Yitzchak dug, the one that was not fought over, after the first two had
been.
This week's TTriddles:
[1] Mentioned here 5 times. Avot was referring to a different one
[2] Adam & Chava, Lavan & Yaakov
[3] How long is a white quail?
[4] Yaakov was the 6th of 13 individuals in the Torah. Who was the first
and who was the last?
[5] An oak pillar in Sh'chem, mound of a siege, and what?
[6] She's confused panic
[7] plus 3 unexplained elements in the Parsha Pix puzzle
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