PARSHA-PIX Parshat Va'eira

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Parsha Pix
7 of the 10 images from the Davka Judaica graphic of the 10 plagues. The final three are in next week's sedra.
Notice the Staff, prominent in the middle of the ParshaPix.
Above it is a sword. This can represent Z'RO'A N'TUYA, the "outstretched arm" with which we were to be taken out of Egypt. Also, the sword is prominently mentioned in the Haftara as that which will befall Egypt.
Next to the staff and sword is a shovel used by the Egyptians to dig for water - only way to get a drink during the plague of Blood.
The oven is what some frogs went into, producing a Kiddush HaShem and a lesson to us that G-d is still in charge of nature - He renews, every day, the acts of Creation. (Each element of nature that was used by G-d in the process of the Plagues and Exodus sanctifies G-d's name because we see His control and involvement in this world. Famous re the non-barking dogs, but frogs, etc. too.)
The Staff is burping from its recent meal of Wizard Staffs.
We have the four cups of wine corresponding to the Four Terms of Redemption, which we find at the beginning of the sedra.
Triple-S J, Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, slogan was Let My People Go.
Lower-right is the pictorial representation of Par'o's heart strengthening, as is mentioned in several places in the sedra and the next one.
Go to the upper-right and the emblem of the Hogwarts School. Par'o's wizards might have been dropouts from Hogwarts since they were not able to cope with the plague of KINIM.
Below BARAD (hail) are the standing wheat and the broken barley in the aftermath of that plague.
Lower right has a game set out. It is KEY-NIM.
That leaves two unexplained elements, which are visual TTriddles to be added to the regular ones scattered through the pages of TT.

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 (SH'MOT) TTriddles:
[1] Pinchas or Matot are like S'fardi names
[2] He took them out; they got them on their way out
[3] Yishma'el, Le'ah, Bnei Yisra'el
[4] Only Moshe and Eishet Mano'ach with these words
[5] First: HaShem, Yehuda, Moshe; Last: Kayin, Eliezer, Rachel, Moshe
[6] Rivka, Batya, Avigayil, Ruth
[7] plus 2 elements from the ParshaPixPuzzle

And the envelope, please...
[1] Names is Sh'mot, S'fardi names means the haftara of Sh'mot according to the S'fardi tradition. Which is, first chapter of Yirmiyahu. Which Ashkenazim read on the first Shabbat after 17 Tamuz, which is either Parshat Pinchas or Matot. EB and YYK both solved this one (and most of the others).
[2] Eliezer took out silver and gold vessels for Rivka's family. Bnei Yisrael got silver and gold vessels (and other things) on their way out of Mitzrayim, as prophesied in Parshat Sh'mot.
[3] One of the things in the Torah that say "Make a TTriddle out of me" is a distinctive phrase that has relatively reoccurrences. One such phrase from Parshat Sh'mot was VAYISHMA ELOKIM, and G-d heard (so to speak). It occurs only three times in Tanach: ...ET KOL HANAAR, the voice of the lad, referring to Yishmael. G-d heard Leah's plea (says Rashi, to have more of the Sh'vatim). And G-d heard the cries of Bnei Yisrael, and He remembered His covenant with the Avot... BTW, there are 10 VAYISH- MA HASHEM, but only these 3 VAYISHMA ELOKIM. That's how TTriddles work sometimes.
[4] Similarly (see [3]), The phrase VAYEIRA MAL'ACH HASHEM, and an angel of G-d appeared... is quite rare. The words appear only with Moshe at the Burning Bush and to the wife of Mano'ach, mother of Shimshon. This certainly makes it TTriddle- worthy.
[5] This one was gotten only by EB (as of this writing) and earns him a perfect score this week and top honors. By his own admission, this one took him a good while, but he got it. The key word is ANOCHI. The word appears 293 times in Tanach. That is definitely too often for making a good TTriddle. But, if we look at only those times that ANOCHI is the first word of a pasuk or the last, then we've got it. As a first word, it most refers to G-d, but once to Yehuda (who was committing himself to being responsible for Binyamin), and once when Moshe Rabeinu tells the people that he stands between G-d and them... As a last word, it was used by KAYIN when he arrogantly asked if he was his brother's keeper, when Eliezer announced that he was Avraham's servant, when Rachel said she would die if she had no children, and when Moshe declared himself as having a speech impediment (or whatever K'VAD PEH means). There is something powerful with the word ANOCHI, in contrast with ANI, that calls our attention - for TTriddles, and for more serious analysis.
[6] This one too is based on a word and the curiosity as to other occurrences. VATEIRED, and she went down... The word is used for the four mentioned women, with Par'o's daughter being given her other name for this TTriddle, rather than Bat Par'o. Speaking of which, in Divrei HaYamim, she is called BITYA. If anyone knows how the name BATYA came about, let us know.
[7] Top-center of the ParshaPix was a flint arrow- head. It stands for the TZOR that Tzipora used to circumcise her son, thereby saving Moshe's life.
[8] The other graphic turned out to be much easier than it was supposed to be, because it can be solved without knowing what the graphic really is. This was a reference to the haftara, where the phrase TZZAV LATZAV TZAV LATZAV, KAV LAKAV KAV LAKAV appears twice. It is an ear-catching sequence of words. Turtle is a play on TZAV, with turtle being spelled TZADI-VET and the words from the haftara are with VAVs. The turtle and lines are from an old graphics drawing program for computers called LOGO. But that's what you didn't have to know.
Readers of this column are requested not to be intimidated by the likes of EB or YYW, and to send in solutions even for a couple of TTriddles. We like giving prizes to new solvers.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] This word might explain the Birds' Head Hagada
[2] Moshe's cousin: two brothers in Va'eira;his namesake's two partners in book 23
[3] Father and sons aliteration champs
[4] It uniquely extends the commonest pasuk
[5] Va'eira connection to 7th or 8th Chanuka candle
[6] Partners in two plagues, the result of another, and a later battle
[7] Used several times in Torah and Nach to verify a certain knowledge
[8] plus 3 elements from the ParshaPix

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