PARSHA-PIX Parshat Matot-Masei

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Parsha Pix
An “oldie but goodie” ParshaPix
Father and daughter; husband and wife. The two pairs involved in HAFARAT NEDARIM.
Five crown plus one with a sword under it refers to the five kings and Bil’am who saw their end during the battle against Midyan.
The face-to-face sheep, cows, and donkeys represent the even split of the spoils of war from Midyan, divided between the army and the rest of the people.
The pot of gold refers to the contribution of the officers of the battle in thanks to G-d for the zero casualty rate. (And to the need to kasher and purify pots and other vessels taken in wars.)
The Pyramids, the many arrows, and the outline of Israel, of course, stand for the travels of the people from Exodus to Eretz Yisrael.
The quill refers to the Torah’s statement that Moshe wrote down the travelog of Bnei Yisrael.
The map above the Pyramids with a big 3 on each side of the Jordan River refers to the Cities of Refuge to be designated in Eretz Yisrael.
The scales of justice are for the careful attention that the courts must pay in cases of homicide (the example from this week’s sedra) in determining culpability of the guilty party.
The road sign to Hebron is one of the requirements for Cities of Refuge (which Hevron is one of). Roads to them must be well-marked to facilitate the escape to them of one who committed a homicide, regardless of the outcome of his trial.
The cow with the horns stands for the rare (this once only) occurrence of the TROP called KARNEI PARA.
The big rock under the sword is TZUR, the name of one of the late Midyanite kings. the mathematically incorrect statement, that a quarter is equal to a fifth. A quarter is REVA, one of the five kings (1/5) killed in the Midyanite battle.
Lower-right is the logo of YOTVATA; the choir is for MAK-HEILATA; the Lulav for SUKKOT; the dreidel is for CHASHMONA - all names of places of encampment.
There is another Chatan-Kallah, this time multiplied by 5, representing the daughters of Zelofchad who marry distant cousins to solve the old “land going from one tribe to another tribe” problem.
The 2K over the U with a little attachment is a partner of the cow with the horns. ALPAYIM (2000) BAAMA from Bamidbar 35:5 is the phrase with the rarest TROP marks - YERECH BEN YOMO under ALPAYIM and KARNEI PARA over the word BAAMA.

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 (PINCHAS) TTriddles:
[1] One false pause and 30,968 people go missing - from whom?
Several solvers got this one. It was based on a comment from the Towards Better Davening and Torah Reading about misplaced pauses. In the numbers of the counts (census) of each tribe, there is a pause in wrong place pitfall which technically changes the population number. Take, for example, the tribe of EFRAYIM (which happens to be the answer to this TTriddle).
These are the families of Efrayim according to their count: two and thirty thousand and five hundred. That is, of course, 32,500. And the proper place to pause when reciting that number is after the word thousand. But in Hebrew and with the TROP notes, it is easy to put the phrase in the wrong place. SH'NAYIM USHLOSHIM (2 and 30, i.e. 32) has the note combination of DARGA T'VIR. The way many (most ?) BKs (Baalei K'ri'a or Baal Koreis in English) naturally pause too long after a T'VIR. And they don't pause long enough after a TIPCHA, which is under the word ELEF. So it comes out sounding like 32 <pause> one thousand five hundred. 32+1500= 1532. Subtracted from 32,500, you get a drop in population of 30,968. As we once pointed out, there are much more serious distorted results when the pause after a TIPCHA is not long, as it should be, and at the same time, there is too long of a pause after a T'VIR.
[2] Without the 10, the pair can rest
Ed. note: This one is of particular interest to me, my name being PINCHAS. PINCHAS is usually spelled PEI - YUD-NUN-CHET-SAMACH. To be specific, the name spelled that way occurs 24 times in Tanach, mostly referring to the son of Elazar who was the son of Aharon HaKohen. Four of the occurrences are in Torah - once in Parshat Va'eira when he birth is noted, and once each in the three consecutive sedras of Balak, Pinchas, and Matot. The other PINCHAS in Tanach is the son of Eli HaKohen and brother of CHOFNI. Not as good or as well-liked as the original Pinchas. There is also one reference to another Pinchas, father of Elazar (not son of). They were Leviyim.
The first syllable of the name is PI (PEI-YUD), the second syllable is N'CHAS, the SH'VA under the NUN is NA, it moves. Only once, Pinchas b. Eli HaKohen is spelled PEI-NUN-CHET- SAMACH. In that case, without the YUD (without the 10, that is), the SH'VA is NACH. In other words, the pair (of dots that make a SH'VA) can rest (NACH).
[3] The third, the third, (the sixth,) the third
THE THIRD tribe whose count is recorded (GAD), THE THIRD pasuk of the parsha for Gad, mentions THE SIXTH son of Gad, names AROD, whose name is similar to ARAD which means BRONZE which is the medal awarded to THE THIRD place winner in various competitions.
[4] From him comes a confused oldest
This one too is from Shevet Efrayim. The him referred to is Efrayim's first-mentioned son, SHUTELACH. From him is MISHUTELACH, which is an anagram (confused letter order) of METUSHELACH, the oldest person whose name is recorded in the Torah. He lived to 969. BTW, HC, who was one of several solvers to get [1], was the only one to get this one too. KOL HAKAVOD.

NachKwestion of the Week
Find people and places in Tanach who have a former name also mentioned in Tanach
E.g. Avraham (Avram), Beit El (Luz)
Here's an email from OI...
Hi! I am entering now my first TTriddle answer. I am responding to your recent call to read the TTriddle reports, even if we don't try to solve them each week. I really enjoyed this week's G'matriya and it has given me an incentive to try out this week's riddle. I will see it how it goes. I am really excited about it. [Ed.note: I like this guy!]
Here are some of his his additions to the above Nach- Kwestion:
Re'uel, formerly Yitro (he had other names as well).
Hebron, formerly Kiryat Arba.
King Tzidkiyahu, formerly Matanya.
Gilgal, formerly Givat Ha'arelot.
King Yehoyakim, formerly Elyakim.
Padan Aram, formerly Haran.
Havot Ya'ir, formerly Eretz Habashan.
Belshatzar, formerly Daniel (his three friends also had Aramaic equivalents).
Yedidya (only rarely used), formerly King Solomon.
Novach, formerly K'nat (last pasuk in Matot)
[Nice job, OI. Contact us at tt@ou.org to arrange for your prize.]

TTriddles prize this week also to CF, a TTreader from Buenos Aires for his work on [1].

This week's TTriddles:
[1] consecutive places that explain "lions and tigers and bear..."
[2] Efrayim, Shimon, and Naftai each had one
[3] Fleishig in kivrot hataava. Where milchig?
[4] BNEI YISRAEL D'ZAGI - who are they?
[5] Together they stir up the stone soup
[6] Pick any three: DALET, CHET, YUD, YUD, KAF, LAMED, MEM, MEM, MEM, NUN, SHIN, TAV
[7] SUN UP BAG CAFE

NachKwestion of the Week:
Pasuk in Torah most often read, How many times in 5766? In 5767? Different answer for Minhag Yerushalayiim

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