
PARSHA-PIX Parshat Vayikra

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Parsha Pix
Pelephone represents G-d calling to Moshe (after the Cloud lifted, Moshe
had K'LITA).
Cow, goat, sheep, and dove are all represented.
As is the Mizbei'ach for the Korbanot
Salt shaker is for salting all korbanot
Hand with pinky sticking up and thumb pointing out is the Kohen's K'MITZA.
In his palm, within the curl of the three middle fingers is the quantity
of the Mincha dough that was burned on the Mizbei'ach, and the amount of
L'VONA that was added to the Mincha.
Kidney is referred to several times in the sedra.
Flour and oil are the main ingredients of Minachot and the frying pan and
oven are two methods of preparing the Mincha.
Upper right is branch of the Boswellia Thurifera tree, from whose resin
comes L'VONA.
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-insolutiononTorahTidbitsAudio(Arutz-7,Thursdaynight).Thebest
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 (Vayaqhel-P’kudei - HaCh) TTriddles:
[1] First Greek letter in Aramaic to Hebrew to Roman numeral
[2] 6-hook score: 15-12, what?
[3] Two ways of looking at it: 3335 • 4433 • 4454 or 344 • 344 • 335 • 534
[4] Approx. 96,288,061.50NIS as of Wednesday, March 17th
[5] plus a cluster of pictures from the Parsha Pix
[6] and the graphic with the 6, a 2 and plus sign
And the envelope, please...
[1] EB traced this one perfectly. First Greek letter is alpha. ALFA is the
Aramaic translation of the Hebrew ELEF, 1000. In Roman numerals, that’s M
- the solution to this TTriddle.
[2] I often layn at Mincha Gedola on Shabbat in my shul. While preparing
the reading for the “preview” of Vayaqhel, I noticed that the list of
materials collected for the Mishkan was almost the same as the list in
Parshat T’ruma, differing only in an occasional VAV HACHIBUR, the
conjunctive VAV. That’s the meaning of 6 (which is the numeric value of
VAV) and hook (which is VAV in Hebrew). These are the materials to be
collected (note the word AND, which indicates a VAV): Gold and silver and
copper. And blue-dyed wool and purple-dyed wool and crimson-dyed wool and
linen and goats hair. And sheep skins dyed red and Tachash skins and
acacia wood. Identical until this point. From here, the extra VAVs in
Vayaqhel are represented by the extra ANDs in parentheses. (And) Oil for
lighting (the Menora), (and) spices for the anointing oil and the incense.
(And) Shoham stones and gemstones for the Eifod and for the Choshen. The
final score is 16-13, Vayaqhel over T’ruma. The 15-12 score of the
TTriddle neglected to count the VAV of V’LACHOSHEN, which would have been
okay not to count, but then neither should the VAV of V’LIKTORET HASAMIM
been counted, which they were. Either 14-11 or 16-13 would have been
better than 15-12, so this was a sloppy TTriddle. Nonethe- less, EB’s
daughters did justice by the TTriddle by going in a different direction,
of which there were two possible paths to take. 6 is not only VAV, but
SHEISH, which also means linen, which is mentioned quite often in the
sedras. Hook means VAV and VAV as hook is also mentioned often, in the
plural form and connecting form. Neither got to the right “scores”, but
then they weren’t “right” either.
[3] So far, two solvers have not only solved this one, but both (EB and
RHM) have corrected the careless interchange of the last two digits in the
last number. There are two ways to look at the stones of the CHOSHEN:
Three stones each in four rows or four stones in each of three columns.
Actually, there are opinions that the stones were arranged in four columns
of three stones each (which can also be seen as three rows of four stones
each). Which- ever. Following the names of the stones mentioned in the
p’sukim and counting the number of letters in each name, we get the three-
and four-digit numbers of the TTriddle.
[4] P’kudei has the totals for gold, silver, and copper in the collection
for the Mishkan. The figure in NIS is the value of the gold only, based on
the price of gold on Wednesday, March 17th ($406.50 per ounce), a shekel
rate of 4.5NIS per dollar, and most importantly, it is based on Rav Aryeh
Kaplan’s figure for the amount of gold in pounds, rather than KIKAR and
SHEKEL. It further assumes that the pounds referred to in the footnote in
the Living Torah are Troy rather than Avoirdupois. Troy pounds have only
12 ounces, but the ounces are larger than the Av. ones. Anyway, this was
another TTriddle that was able to be “figured out” without being figured
out, since TTriddles solvers would instinctively know that it had to do
with the amounts of the precious metals from P’kudei.
[5] In last week’s ParshaPix explanations from page 45 (which would have
been page 51 if pages were numbered sequentially, without exception or
deviation), it said: “The set of pictures in the upper-right are a little
hard to make out. There is a photo of a popular, wonderful, fantastic
shiur-giver at the Center, a picture of the Lone Ranger and his trusty
steed. And a graphic of a British bobby. What they are supposed to mean is
for you to work out.”
The shiur-giver is none other than HaRav Sholom Gold, dean of the Avram
Silver (which could have been for the second metal) Jerusalem College for
Adults of the Seymour J. Abrams • Orthodox Union • Jeusalem Wolrd Center
(which some of you probably still think of and even refer to as the OU
Israel Center). So Rabbi Gold is for ZAHAV. L’havdil, the Lone Ranger’s
trusty steed was Silver. (His faithful Indian - or should we say, Native
American - companion was Tonto, whose horse was Scout.) KESEF. And a
policeman, expecially a British policeman, is called a copper, or cop for
short. NECHOSHET. Hence, the trio of pictures represents the three metals
used in the construction of the Mishkan.
[6] On page 36, there was a large number 6 with a 2+ inside it. Once in
each of the two sedras of last week, the words TOLAAT HASHANI is followed
by UVASHEISH, referring to red-dyed wool and linen. If you take the SHANI
as SH’NEI and add the U (SHURUK, VAV with the dot in it from UVASHEISH),
you get 2 and, or 2+, followed by BASHEISH, in the 6. Something like that.
EB had a slight variation, which was also good. In fact, so far (as of
Sunday 3:00pm), his is the winning solution set. We’ll see.
This week's TTriddles:
[1] Never on Shabbat Chanuka, but this Shabbat YES
[2] Mentioned four times in Bamidbar (book), he is numerically connected
to Vayikra (sedra)
[3] What shape is Aramaic taking?
[4] Confused buffalo translates to something smaller
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