Torah tidbits
PARSHA-PIX Parshat To-l'dot


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Parsha Pix
Top-left is Yaakov with his lentil stew.
Next to him is one of Yitzchak's workers on a break from digging wells.
Continuing across the top, we come to a Seder plate. Rashi tells us that it was the first night of (the future) Pesach that Yaakov presented himself to Yitzchak for the bracha.
Rivka told Yaakov to bring her two goats. Just to feed Yitzchak, you need two goats? Rashi answers that one was for the main dish and the other for Korban Pesach.
Upper-right is a king on his father's back. The hand is pointing to the father, who would be AVIMELECH. This is not the only pun in this week's ParshaPix, as you will see.
The rain cloud is part of the bracha that Yaakov received.
The sword is part of the bracha to Eisav.
The lion cub on the map of Israel is another pun - GUR BAARETZ HAZOT. Actually, live in this Land...
The tow truck is another pun - Yitzchak lived in GERAR. Tow is also a reminder of the first syllable of the name of the sedra. TO-L'DOT,rather than the more common (but mistaken) TOL-DOT.
The passport is for Yaakov who is being sent abroad by both Yitzchak and Rivka. Yitzchak never needed a passport, but Yaakov did.
The teddy bear is holding aloft the number 7 in one paw and an upraised hand in the other. There are two meanings to the name Be'er Sheva.One is from the seven sheep that Avraham gave Avimelech as a token of the covenant between them, and the other is for the oath(s) that were taken in that agreement. SHEVA has both connotations.
And in the lower-right is the Davka Judaica Graphic of Yaakov, the studious ISH TAM, dweller in the tent of Torah study, and Eisav,the ISH SADEH, the man of the field, the hunter.
Straus and Keren HaYesod are the streets on which the Israel Center was and is. They are Rechovot, as in the name of the well.
C is 100 in Roman numerals. With a gate inside the C, you get ME'AH SHE'ARIM.
3 new 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 (Chayei Sara) TTriddles:

[1] Gave to the seven year old
[2] His sons are 4,3,5,4,4,4,3,3,4,4,4,4; his nephew's are 5,5,3,5,5,5,2,5,2,3,4,6
[3] If the vowels were different, we could say this is talking about T'filat HaDerech
[4] There are only 5 or 6 others like this one
[5] Only Rivka and Tamar
[6] Avra(ha)m, gifts, Shimon, Efrayim & Menashe
[7] [8] and [9] 3 elements from the ParshaPix

And the envelope, please...

[1] Play on words from the haftara, Melachim Alef 1:11. Vayomer NATAN (the prophet or gave) EL BAT SHEVA (wife of David HaMelech, mother of Shlomo or 7 year old)...
[2] The TTriddle was meant to point out that both Yishmael (uncle) and Yaakov (nephew) had twelve sons. The numbers are the number of letters in the names of the sons.
[3] B'reishit 24:11 says VAYAVREICH HAG'MALIM MICHUTZ LA'IR... And he (Eliezer) settled the camels (made them kneel) outside the city... Change the vowels of the first word and you get VAY'VAREICH... MICHUTZ LA'IR... and they said a bracha outside the city. That could describe T'FILAT HADERECH.
[4]This one refers to Chayei Sara, a sedra with a two-word name. There are 5 or 6 other sedras like that. Lech Lecha, Ki Tisa, Ki Teitzei, Ki Tavo, V'zot HaB'racha, and maybe Acharei Mot (only maybe, because many call it just Acharei).
[5] TZA'IF is a veil. The word appears only twice in the Chumash (and not at all in the rest of Tanach). The two who covered themselves with veils were Rivka Imeinu and Tamar.
[6] VAYOTZEI... and he took out something or someone. G-d took Avra(ha)m outside to show him the stars. Eliezer took out silver and gold objects (gifts) for Rivka and her family. Yosef took Shimon out of jail and gave him back to the brothers. Yosef took Menashe and Efrayim out of Yaakov's lap to formally present them to Yaakov for a bracha. There are other VAYOTZEIs, but these are the five from the book of B'reishit.
[7] There were three unexplained items in the ParshaPix for Chayei Sara. There was a compass with the east marked on it, representing KEIDMA, the last-named (presumably the youngest) son of Yishmael.
[8] And there was a scarf, representing the TZA'IF that Rivka covered her face with when she was about to meet Yitzchak for the first time.
[9] And then there was "greater than or equal to 2 times 10 to the 7th power, which is 20 million, but more to the point, it is the minimum of ALFEI R'VAVA i.e. thousands of myriads, as in 24:60.

This week's TTriddles:

[1] Menucha v'Simcha, Ma Yedidut, and Yom Zeh Mechubad particularly on this Shabbat
[2] Yitzchak's servants came... and who what?
[3] flayed animals without using hooks
[4] plus 3 elements from the ParshaPix


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