Torah tidbits
PARSHA-PIX Parshat Vayeitzei

Click on image for enlargement

See the KIPA? That’s because we learn from this week’s sedra that Yaakov Avinu wore a kipa. Vayeitzei Yaakov, and Yaakov went out... Would he go out without a kipa?!

The road sign could have been at the side of the road that Yaakov traveled at the beginning of Vayeitzei, with Be’er Sheva behind him and Charan still to come. En route, Yaakov encounters “The Place” where he spent the night and had his famous dream.

Speaking of which, at the lower-left is the rock he put by his head and the ladder standing on the ground climbing heavenward
U’FARATZTA, and you shall spread out in all directions, is represented by the compass.

Yaakov promised to give G-d (so to speak) MAASER, one tenth, .1
Along the right side are 10 babies in cradles, with an 11th one facing the other direction (for Dina) and then a 12th one in the boy direction, for Yosef
The plant above Yaakov’s pillow-rock is a mandrake, the DUDA’IM that Reuven collected for his mother.

There are two of the sticks Yaakov used to induce the production of the striped, speckled, and plain sheep and goats.

Ice cream, G’LIDA, which is the Targum of KERACH in Yaakov’s tirade about his cold nights spent watching over Lavan’s flocks.
3 items unexplained: one from last year and two new ones. Visual TTriddles they are.

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 (Toldot) 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] [5] [6] 3 elements from the ParshaPix

And the envelope, please...
[1] MAT'AMIM, meaning delicacies, tasty dishes, appears only five times in all of Tanach. Every one of those five times is in Parshat To-l'dot, and referring to the dish that Yitzchak asked Eisav to prepare and the one that Rivka prepared for Yaakov to bring to his father. The word appears in at least three Zemirot, which make them particular to this Shabbat - Menucha v'Simcha and Ma Yedidut fro Friday night and Yom Zeh Mechubad from Shabbat day.
[2] VAI-HI BAYOM HAHU, and it was on that day... Surprisingly, the phrase as is appears only twice in Tanach. In To-l'dot, it is the workers of Yitzchak that come to Yitzchak to tell them about what was happening with the wells. In Shmuel Alef, it is Eli HaKohen who is lying down to sleep when G-d calls to Shmuel for the first time.
[3] Flaying animals produces skins that are separate from the rest of the animal. In Hebrew, OROT, spelled most often in the Tanach AYIN REISH TAV, that is, without VAV in either or both places we might expect to see a VAV. VAV also means hook, hence, "without using hooks".
[4]The havdala candle is for Motza'ei Shabbat, which is for V'YITEIN L'CHA which is said on Motza'ei Shabbat and which comes from (the first few p'sukim, that is) from Parshat To-l'dot.
[5] What looks like Roman numeral for 2 is also the symbol for the Zodiac sigh Gemini, which is/are the twins, which therefore represents Yaakov and Eisav. One solver took the Roman idea with the 2 and applied it to HAADOM HAADOM HAZEH, ADOM being a play on EDOM, which is Rome. Not bad. But the intended solution was the twins.
[6] The arrow pointing towards the arrow and labeled x3 stands for the three arrows in the haftara that were used between David and Yehonatan to tell whether there was imminent danger or not.
EB and MM/Bklyn share the honors this week. Nice solutions sets, guys, and thanks for being so faithful to TTriddles. For the rest of you reading these words: Even if you get only one TTriddle, or think you have on TTriddle solved, let us know. It helps us judge interest. And if you don't get any, but enjoy this TT feature anyway, tell us that too. Thanks.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Lavan gave, Yaakov got and gave Who got from Yaakov?
[2] Prominent common verb of the BASH p'sukim of the sedra
[3] Plymouth ball? No, that's not it
[4] His uncle and first-cousin-once-removed each had these
[5] plus 3 elements from the ParshaPix


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