Torah tidbits
PARSHA-PIX Parshat Ki Teitzei

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Parsha Pix
Soldier in a tank, represents the many times "army" issues are mentioned in the sedra - The Beautiful Captive, the cleanliness of an army camp, exemption from service for a groom for the first year of marriage...
Warning lights are to prevent someone getting injured from a hazard in one's property. This is the flip side of the mitzva of MAAKEH.
Boot is for CHALITZA and the whole subject of YIBUM.
Nest with eggs is the scene immediately after someone has fulfilled the mitzva to send away the mother bird.
Couple under the CHUPA stands for several topics related to marriage.
Hands holding the wallet, taking out money is for the different monetary mitzvot in the sedra - not to borrow with interest. To pay a laborer on time. To fulfill one's pledges...
Cluster of grapes on top of a stalk of wheat to represent K'LAI KEREM.
Toilet is for requirement of having sanitary facilities outside an army base.
The string around the finger is for the various mitzvot to remember - what happened to Miriam, being in Mitzrayim, Amalek.
The grave-marker is for the mitzva to bury our dead, and reasonable quickly.
The donkey is for the many references to either donkey or other animal. The donkey gets lost, he is overburdened, he cannot pull a plow together with an ox...
The barbells with different weights on each end represents false weights and measures. Forbidden to use to defraud someone, and even forbidden to possess.
The aardvark and giraffe are tied together. That is a Torah violation.
There is a time clock representing paying the worker on time, and also the mitzvot related to workers' rights and employers' rights, as well.
There's a Purim grogger in the lower right corner. Stands for ZACHOR and especially wiping out Amalek. This is the origin of making noise when Haman's name is read.
KEY = KI, the word that starts the sedra off and appears 48 times in the sedra. That's a lot.
The apple tree can be for the rules of SHICH'CHA or the location of a nest, or for the rules to allow apple pickers to eat during their breaks.

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 (SHO-F’TIM) TTriddles:

[1] 27 79-47 (8 with 29), 39 47-79, (1 with 29)
[2] Confused knowledge is surrounded by falsehood
[3] oaths one witness
[4] Besides righteous people, whose words?
[5] plus 2 elements from the ParshaPix, one of which is a double

And the envelope, please...

[1] Variation on a theme. 79 is the atomic number of GOLD. 47 is the atomic number of SILVER. And 29 is the atomic number of COPPER. This TTriddle was motivated by what seemed like an unusual mention in the sedra of silver and gold, rather than gold and silver. Turns out that only when copper is also mentioned, do we find the metals in descending order of value (and atomic number), namely, ZAHAV VACHESEF UN-CHOSHET. The full stats for gold and silver are: 27 times it is gold and then silver, 8 of which are followed by copper. But there are 39 silver then gold, including one unusual silver, gold, and copper. (Included in the above are the prefix letters BET, HEI, LAMED.)
[2] In D’varim 19:18, the Torah is dealing with EIDIM ZOM’MIM, a specific type of false witness. The words (v’hinei eid) SHEKER HA-EID SHEKER (ana v’achiv) appear. the word HA-EID, the witness, is an anagram (confused) for DEI’A, knowledge. Hence, Confused knowledge is surrounded by falsehood, which sounds like a maxim of some sort, which makes it a fun TTriddle.
[3] This one is a play on the different meanings of the phrase LO YAKUM. It appears three times in the Chumash - twice in reference to vows that were annuls, and therefore shall not arise into existence. In Sho-f’tim, it is used in reference to a single witness, who shall not stand against someone, since at least two witnesses are necessary.
[4] Many TTriddles are born of a search in Tanach for other occurrences of an unusual word in the sedra. The Torah tells us that one may not take a bribe, for bribes will blind the wise and will pervert the words of the righteous - VISALEIF DIVREI TZADIKIM. This phrase occurs in Mishpatim and in Sho-f’tim. The only other time the sequence of letters appears is in the related word VAI-SALEIF (and he perverted) the words of BOGEID, traitor.
[5] The negation of the snake is for the prohibition of NICHUSH (play on words). The snake is a KING cobra, so it also refers to the prohibition of choosing a king from another nation (Cobra isn’t a Jewish name.) The king of hearts is lying down since the kings heart must not be raised above his brothers.

This week's TTriddles:

[1] grass, meat, grapes; but she?
[2] his A or B; his B or C - whose? what? what not?
[3] All boys, in Tanach, only OVEID and ?
[4] The mother bird and whose water?
[5] Samuel Irving - 1895-1979
[6] As a word, it appears only twice; as 5/7 of an acronym, it completely pervades all scrolls
[7] Key man from a misspelled mourner
[8] NUN Ki Teitzei, CHET R'ei
[9] Mitzva fringe benefit for army exemptee


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