Torah tidbits
PARSHA-PIX Parshat Mikeitz

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ParshaPix
At the top you have the seven fat (and happy) cows and the seven full, healthy stalks of grain. Right below them are the seven skinny (and unhealthy) cows and stalks. They’re all from Par’o’s dream(s).
Mickey Mouse, in his famous role as the sorcerer’s apprentice, represents the wizards of Egypt who were unable to satisfactorily interpret Par’o’s dreams.
When the Wine Steward finally told Par’o about Yosef, he (Yosef) was brought up from the dungeon and cleaned up. Tradition tells us that it was Rosh HaShana when Yosef was brought before Par’o – hence, the Shofar. The Torah tells us that he shaved for the occasion – hence the electric shaver with the Shofar.
The scarab ring represents the one Par’o gave Yosef when he decided to appoint Yosef “over Egypt”.
20% was part of Yosef’s plan for Par’o, to take that percentage from each producer during the years of plenty, so that there would be enough to go around during the years of famine.
10+1+? was the brothers' answer to Yosef's question about their family. We are 10 brothers, son of one man. One other brother is at home and the other's whereabouts are unknown. (True, but they thought they were lying.)
Botnim (now peanuts but originally pistachio) were part of Yaakov's gift package.
The cup is Yosef's, used to frame Binyamin.
The double sacks is the double portion of money the brothers found returned to their sacks.
The emblem of the State of Israel is based on the description of Zecharya's prophecy, which is the haftara for Shabbat Chanuka.
In the lower-left is a scene from Megilat Esther, with Haman leading Mordechai through the streets. There are many remarkable similarities between that Megila scene and what was done with Yosef. This one is particularly obvious - parading him... calling before him... (Yosef, Mordechai).
The bell (on the right side of the ParshaPix, just under the parched corn) is for the word VATIPA'EM RUCHO, his (Par'o) spirit was troubled. The word appears only one other place in Tanach, in the book of Daniel, where it has the same context: being troubled as a result of a dream. Rashi in Mikeitz explains it as having the feeling of a bell ringing inside (one's chest or heart, perhaps).
The shirt with the 6 on it is a play on BIGDEI SHEISH, garments of linen, that Par'o clothed Yosef with.
The emblem of the State of Israel is from the haftara.
lub 365 is associated with the department store chain HAMASHBIR. That is what Yosef was for the Land of Egypt - HAMASHBIR (B'reishit 42:6).

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 (VAYEISHEV) TTriddles:

[1] Yaakov (2), Yosef, Edom, Shaul, Asa'el, Amnon, Ish (2)
[2] Eliezer, Yaakov, Yosef, Par'o, Moshe, Haman & ?
[3] He's probably the thou
[4] The T-shirt TTriddle is the Mazal TTriddle and it's deeper than it looks

Nachman K's Jewish Trivia Question: 3 married couples in Tanach,all names starting with an ALEF

And the envelope, please...

[1] VAI-MA-EIN, and he refused. In our sedra, the word appears with a SHALSHELET over it. That TROP note is rare enough and fancy enough to call your attention to the words it marks. In this case, it was Yosef who refused the advances of Potifar's wife. Yosef was not the first refusenik in Tanach, although he was involved in the first occurrence of the word VAIMA'EIN. Yaakov refused to be comforted over the loss of Yosef. And once again, Yaakov refuses to allow Yosef to switch his hands back to the way Yosef felt they should be for the blessing of Menashe and Efrayim. The only other Torah refusenik is the nation of Edom who refused passage through their land to Bnei Yisrael. In the rest of Tanach, we find this refuse word with Sha'ul, Asa'el, and twice where the refuser is identified as an ISH. TTriddle solver DAZC included in his solution that one ISH was an unidentified prophet and the other was the prophet Elisha.
[2] If [1] was the TTriddle for refuseniks, then this one is for story-tellers. VAISAPEIR, and he told. The word appears in Tanach only 10 times, and they are clustered. 6 times in B'reishit, twice in Sh'mot, and twice in Megilat Esther. Eliezer tells his story to Yitzchak upon his return with Rivka. Yaakov tells Lavan his story. Yosef tells his dream to his brothers and then about the second dream to his father and his brothers. The Wine Steward (he's part of the answer to this TTriddle) tells his dream to Yosef. In this week's sedra, Par'o tells his dreams to his wizards and advisors. Moshe tells Yitro all that happened to the Jewish People and again Moshe tells the people all that G-d has told him to tell them. Haman tells his wife Zeresh and his advisors twice about what happens with Mordechai. And the son of an old prophet from Beit El is the other part.
[3] "A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou" is the second line of Quatrain XII in the 5th edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a collection of poems (of which there are about a thousand) attributed to the Persian mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyam (1048-1123). Quatrains are poems of four lines. If the jug of wine is the domain of the Wine Steward, and the loaf of bread is the domain of the baker, then the THOU is probably Yosef - at least in the warped world of TTriddles.
[4] What's a Mazal TTriddle? For the last several months, there has been a TTriddle-style alternate for the Zodiac (mazal) symbol of the month (Word of the Month - box on page 2). These involve plays-on- words and the like.
What's a T-shirt TTriddle? It is the TTriddle each week (or almost every week) for which the first correct solver wins a T-shirt from Not Just T's.
What's Not Just T's? Your T-shirt factory with original creative Hebrew designs... or design your own. 7 Histadrut, right off the Midrachov. Tel. 623-4877.
Okay, to the Mazal TTriddle. An Oakland Athletics is a Major League Baseball team in the Western Division of the American League. (Irrelevant.) They are often called the A's (relevant) and their cap insignia is A's (very relevant). A's. Say it a few times, and think Hebrew. EIZ means GOAT. The goat (or sea goat) is the Zodiac symbol (the mazal) for the month of Tevet. In addition, the picture is one of the A's cap. Cap is the three-letter abbreviation of the constellation Capricorn, which is the goat (or sea goat) in question. So A's cap is a double symbol for Tevet. Answers for all TTriddles (incl. T-shirt TTriddle and the NKJTQ to tt@ou.org, 566-7787 ext. 207

And now... Nachman K Jewish Trivia Question.
First best answer each week wins a CD from Noam Productions. Last week's NKJTQ asked for 3 married couples in Tanach, all 6 names of which begin with ALEF. We'll start with the Torah where we find Aharon HaKohein married to Elisheva b. Aminadav, sister of Nachson. Next comes the notorious couple Achav, seventh king of the Kingdom of Israel, and his wife Izevel. Several TTreaders got those two and for their third had Achashveirosh and Esther. DAZC challenged this pair in his solution, claiming that they really weren't married and that Esther was not her real name, but rather Hadasa was. For the third ALEF-ALEF couple, he offers Avishur and Avichayil mentioned in Divrei HaYamim. Prize for the Not Just T's TTriddle goes to DAZC. Thanks to the other readers who submitted solutions. Keep sending them in.

This week's TTriddles:

[1] The match, sort of, to Par'o's cows
[2] How many and what are homographs?
[3] They achieved strength and (different) royalty at the same age
[4] 3 for 2 and 2 for 3 and it's the sky chair (T-shirt TTriddle)
[5] Two olive trees, not two women
[6] Besides Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, there are two opinions - Beit Fibonacci and Beit Lucas. How many more candles does Beit Lucas require than Beit Fibonacci? Why do Fibonacci candles tilt?
[7] If the first two nights were the same but the progression were geometric, how many candles would there be in a box?
[8] So have another 34/49 of a latke - (Get this one and win a separate prize)

Nachman K's Jewish Trivia Question
24 words in a row in one of our T'filot ending with the same letter


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