
PARSHA-PIX Parshat No'ach

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Parsha Pix
A classic ParshaPix we've used before, with a change and a couple of
additions.
The top row is based on an old joke about the worm coming in an
apple, but all the other animals coming in pears (pairs). So a
sample of animals are to be found in pears. They represent the
animals that came into the Teiva.
There is also a fish to remind us that fish were not taken on the
Teiva, but survived the Mabul in a column of water under the Teiva
that did not have the destructive forces of the rest of the
floodwaters.
There is also a Triceratops, which was a rhinoceros-like dinosaur.
One possible explanation for finding fossil remains of pre-historic
animals is that they existed in antediluvian times, but did not
survive the Flood.
Then there are the famous dove with olive branch, cloud with rainbow
and cloud with rain.
The grapes and wine flask are references to No’ach post-Flood.
The people figures represent the proliferation of human beings after
the Flood.
The ear of corn, TIRAS in Hebrew, stands for one of the 70 nations
that came from No'ach - the one called TIRAS, which Rashi says is
Paras, or Persia.
The Tower of Babel is accompanied by words of many languages. This
year they all mean "water". As mentioned in the Lead Tidbit, we are
adding another 15 languages to the 7 represented in the title on the
front page. In the ParshaPix, to the left of the leaning tower, from
top to bottom, are the words for water in the following languages:
Luxembourgish (similar to the German word, but with an additional
a), Zulu, Chinese, Swedish, Tamil, Gaelic, Italian (Latin), Carib,
Finnish, Welsh, Hungarian, Albanian, Bengali, Korean, and
Indonesian. You can believe that I am conversant in each of these
languages, or that I found a website with water in many languages.
Your choice. And then there are two unexplained elements of the PP
for you to solve.
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 (Sukkot-B'reishit) TTriddles:
[1] Its name sounds like something we cannot use to cover it
[2] Followed by Kaddish, Kaddish, Kiddush
[3] The two 2-parters, the tall one, the last one
[4] 31.1T if you get around to it
[5] it was immediately, not 6 months later
[6] The 7 on the 7 minus the 7
And the envelope, please...
[1] BASUKOT TEISHVU... In Sukkot you shall dwell... Thus begins
Vayikra 23:42 which gives us the mitzva of Sukka. Targum Onkeles
renders the word SUKKOT as M'TALAYA, which sounds like METAL, which
cannot be used for S'CHACH.
[2] Vayikra 23:44, VAYDABEIR MOSHE... is said on the eve of Yom Tov
right before the Kaddish and Amida (but not according to Minhag
Yerushalayim). On the first day of Sukkot, the pasuk was read right
before the Kaddish between the two Sifrei Torah. And at Kiddush on
Yom Tov morning, it precedes BOREI PRI HAGAFEN, which is Kiddush.
[3] In the ALEF-BET, there are only two letters that are written
with two separate parts: KUF and HEI. They are the two 2-parters.
The tall one (letter) is LAMED and the last one is TAV. These four
letters spell KOHELET, the megila read on Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot.
[4] 31.1 T (t'fachim) is the circumference of the smallest kosher
circular sukka (if you get a round to it - get it?) The minimum
dimensions (length and width) of a sukka are 7 by 7 t'fachim. In
order for a circular sukka to be kosher, a 7x7 square would have to
be able to be inscribed in it. The diagonal of a 7x7 square is 7
times the sqare root of 2, which is about 9.9. The square's diagonal
is also the circle's diameter. The circumference is pd, which is
approx. 31.1. (Mishna B'rura uses 1.4 as an approximation for the
square root of 2 and 3 as a low approximation of PI. He therefore
concludes that a circular sukka with a circumference of 29.4
t'fachim is kosher. Using closer values for the square root of 2 and
PI give the number in the TTriddle. An interesting halachic question
is whether a circular sukka with a circumference of 30T is kosher or
not.)
[5] Sukkot was the very first place the people of Israel camped
after leaving Egypt, rather than Sukkot (the holiday) being 6 months
after Pesach.
[6] The 7 (1 etrog + 1 lulav + 3 hadasim + 2 aravot) on the 7 (days
of Sukkot) minus (except for) 7 (Shabbat).
This week's TTriddles:
[1] Pyle Gog Paras Athens Kayin Chochma Jiffy Pop
[2] His father's northern boundary
[3] Rosh Chodesh is his foot
[4] Elokim four times, who else & what?
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