
PARSHA-PIX Parshat Pinchas

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Parsha Pix
Upper-right are contradictory symbol of war (the spear) and peace (the dove
with olive branch). Pinchas' act of "violence" was rewarded by the Covenant
of Peace. It works this way sometimes. Pacifism does not necessarily always
lead to peace and sometimes, forceful offensive action can.
The Brit Shalom is the Kehuna, the CHOSHEN.
The broken 6 represents the broken VAV in Shalom.
The small 10 is for the small YUD in Pinchas.
The large 50 is for the large NUN SOFIT referring to the claim of the
daughters of TZ'lofchad.
Bill Cosby stands for his Midyanite namesake.
The calculator stands for the counting of the people.
The lambs are the daily T'MIDIM, or the Musaf of Shabbat - both of which are
mitzvot in Pinchas.
Along the bottom... The binoculars are for Moshe Rabeinu to look out over
the Land...
There is a collection of symbols representing Shabbat (candle sticks),
Pesach (3 matzot), Shavuot (Har Sinai with the Luchot), Rosh HaShana (apple
and honey - the shofar is extra because it is one of this sedra's mitzvot),
Yom Kippur (the scales), Sukkot (the sukka, sort of).
That leaves the nostalgic inclusion of one of the very first Parsha
PixPuzzles. It reads from left to right. A candy CANE inside a musical NOTE.
Which gives us KEIN B'NOT... Next is a sniper, TZALAF in Hebrew. Combined
with the 1 gives us TZELOF-CHAD. The bear is a DOV and the piece of the
multiplication table reminds us of the method by which many of us had to
learn it - namely, by ROTE. All together, we have G-d's answer through Moshe
to Machla, No'a, Chogla, Milka, and Tirtza: KEIN B'NOT TZELOFCHAD DO'V'ROT...
Leaving 2 visual 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.
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 (BALAK) TTriddles:
[1] From 626 to 728, more than 100 numbers, there's only one of these.
[2] 4 saw, 1 heard, 1 told - who? x 6
[3] For openers, a connection to last week's haftara
[4] Bil'am and Zerubavel are the only two
[5] ...son of Joel and Mary Ann (Britton), was born 25 Aug. 1844 in Linn
County, Iowa... died 8 April 1923 in Waterloo, Iowa. (There are others, but
one will do for TTriddle purposes.)
And the envelope, please...
[1] This one is not even related to the sedra, but just to the issue number
of last week's Torah Tidbits. 676 is a perfect square; 26 x 26 = 676. The
previous perfect square is 625 (25²); the next one is 729 (27²). That means
that from 626 to 728 inclusive - a span of more than 100 numbers, there is
only one perfect square. 626-725 is the first span of 100 numbers to contain
only one perfect square. So what? Not much. Just a number observation. First
thoughts for this TTriddle was to use the fact that the g'matriya of G-d's
name is 26. Nothing worked for that. Had last week's sedra been Chayei Sara,
the issue number would have matched the g'matriya of the first pasuk of the
haftara. But last week was Balak, not Chayei Sara. So we went with the
perfect square thing. Earliest we'll bother you with that kind of TTriddle
is more than a year, at the earliest. So rest easy.
[2] EIT KOL ASHER ASA... All that was done. That phrase appears 10 times in
Tanach. This TTriddle is restricted to the 6 times it appears in the Torah.
Four times, it is preceded with some variation of "to see". First it was G-d
Who saw all that was done and it was TOV M'OD... Balak saw all that Israel
had done to Emori. Yehoshua was shown all that happened to the two kings...
(end of D'varim, D'varim). Moshe reminds the people all that G-d had done in
Egypt, etc. The other two verbs go with Yitro. He heard and Moshe told
him... all that G-d had done...
[3] Cryptic crossword type of TTriddle. Openers is a play on words - can
refer to the first word of something and/or the word for "open". As in
VAYIFTACH HASHEM ET PI HA'ATON... G-d opened the donkey's mouth, and the
similar word to VAYIFTACH, namely V'YIFTACH as in the opening word of the
previous week's haftara.
[4] EKACHACHA, I will take you. Unusual form of the root LAKACHAT, to take,
appears only twice in all of Tanach. Balak offers to take Bil'am to a
different place to see the people of Israel. The only other occurrence of
the word is in CHAGGAI 2:23. q.v.
[4] William Nation. Also known (not really, just in TTriddle-land) as BILL
AM. BIL'AM, get it? There are other William Nations, but one is enough for a
TTriddle.
This week's TTriddles:
[1] Shabbat - Sunday connection
[2] Daughters the same, sons 150 more
[3] It contributes to the pronunciation until family suffix is added. For
one of his sons, it is exactly the opposite
[4] Zula's Shevet?
[5] Follows the post-motana break
[6] When personal names became family names, theirs changed the least, his
changed the most. Who they - who he?
[7] plus two visual TTriddles from the ParshaPix
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