Torah tidbits
PARSHA-PIX Parshat No'ach

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ParshaPix
The top row is based on an old joke about the worm coming in an apple, but all the other animals coming in pears (pairs). So a sample of animals are to be found in pears. They represent the animals that came into the Teiva.
There is also a fish to remind us that fish were not taken on the Teiva, but survived the Mabulin a column of water under the Teiva that did not have the destructive forces of the rest of the floodwaters.
There is also a Triceratops, which was a rhinoceros-like dinosaur. One possible explanation for finding fossil remains of pre-historic animals is that they existed in antediluvian times, but did not survive the Flood.
Then there are the famous dove with olive branch, cloud with rainbow and cloud with rain.
The grapes and wine flask are references to No’ach post-Flood occupation.
The people figures represent the proliferation of human beings after the Flood.
The ear of corn, TIRAS in Hebrew, a KUSH ball, and GOMER Pylein the upper-right corner, are three of the 70 nations that came from No'ach.
The Tower of Babel is accompanied by words of many languages. The words all mean WATER, the main theme of the first part of the sedra. languages are: Luxembourgish (similar to the German word, but with an additional a), Zulu, Chinese, Swedish,Tamil, Gaelic, Italian (and Latin), Carib, Finnish, Welsh, Hungarian, Albanian, Bengali, Korean, and Indonesian.

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 (The BIG one) TTriddles:

[1] The most significant day for Chag
[2] The symbol stands apart from what it represents
[3] Hamantash turnovers
[4] borrowed by 3 of 5 two days earlier
[5] They were 766, 636, 531, 441, 371, 306, 144, and 79; two not yet
[6] Like major, like minor - almost, and one short
[7] plus two elements from ParshaPix of Haazinu

And the envelope, please...

[1] This TTriddle combines Sukkot with Parshat B'reishit (part of what was covered by the first quadruple issue of Torah Tidbits ever). On Chag (i.e. Sukkot), the world is judged for water. There is the mitzva of Nisuch HaMayim in the time of the Beit HaMikdash. Simchat Beit HaSho'eiva. And other issues of Sukkot that are connected to water. There- fore, the most significant day of Creation to Sukkot is Yom Sheini. And let's not forget the Arba'a Minim and the s'chach for the Sukka. That makes Yom Sh'lishi very significant to Chag. Both are solutions to this TTriddle, which should have been worded day(s) rather than day.
[2] The letter HEI is one of the symbols we use for G-d's name. In Parshat Haazinu, there is the word HAL-ADO-NOI, with the HEI standing apart from what the HEI symbolizes - G-d's name.
[3] In D'varim 32:20 (Haazinu), we find one of the Torah's references to Hester Panim (G-d's working behind the scenes, so to speak) - VAYOMER ASTIRA PANAI MEIHEM, I will hide My face from them. ASTIRA has the name ESTHER in it, and is considered a REMEZ (hint, clue, allusion) to ESTHER from the Torah (because the Purim story is a clear example of HESTER PANIM). The pasuk continues, ...KI DOR TAHAPUCHOT HEIMA, they are a generation that flips itself over. The warped mind that makes TTriddles combined Purim with TAHAPUCHOT to get a new pastry called HAMANTASHEN TURNOVERS.
[4] Two days before Shabbat Parshat Haazinu was Yom Kippur. The pasuk KI SHEIM HASHEM EKRA... from Haazinu is borrowed to begin the Amida of Musaf, Mincha, and Ne'ila (but not Arvit or Shacharit) - KI SHEIM is borrowed by three of the five YK davenings from the Torah reading of two days later.
[5] The correct designation of the year which began on Rosh HaShana is HEI' TAV-SHIN-SAMACH-VAV, 5766. The HEI represents 5000, but is often left out and the year is simple called TAV-SHIN-SAMACH-VAV - which is 766. In the year 766, 5000 years ago, Adam was 766 years old. His son Sheit was 636, Enosh was 531, Keinan was 441, Mahalaleil was 371, Yered was 306, Chanoch was a young 144, and M'tushelach was a mere 79 years old. Lemech and No'ach, the last two of the "ten generations from Adam to No'ch" mentioned in Parshat B'reishit, were not yet born in 766.
[6] Torah reading is an example of music in a major key. Haftara reading is an example of minor key. Like major, like minor = like the sedra, so too the haftara (of Haazinu), both written in an unusual format by Sofrim, but they are only almost the same, since the form of Haazinu is different from the form of Shirat David, the haftara for Haazinu (when it is read between Yom Kippur and Sukkot). Shirat David, by the way, is written in the same form as Shirat HaYam in B'shalach and Shirat D'vora in Sho'f'tim. And one (pasuk) short refers to the fact that Haazinu has 52 p'sukim and the haftara has 51.
[7] TT 688 also holds the record for ParshaPix, with four different ones. All elements of the four Parsha- Pix (that is the correct plural for ParshaPix, not Pixes or Pixi) were explained except for two from the Haazinu ParshaPix. There was the leaning tower of Pisa which stands for the word MIGDOL (tower) in the haftara. But we only pronounce the word MIGDOL; it is written as if it were MAGDIL. Thus the leaning of the tower. The two forms of the word (MIGDOL and MAGDIL) should be familiar from Birkat HaMazon. In the T'hilim chapter that mirrors Shirat David from Shmuel Bet, 18, which also has 51 p'sukim, the word is pronounced MAGDIL but spelled without a YUD, which leaves it readable as MIGDOL (with a CHOLOM CHASEIR).
[7] Which brings us to the logo of the well-known Israeli company T'NUVA. The logo appears three times, making it plural, of T'NUVOT, a word that appears only once in Tanach - in Parshat Haazinu.

This week's TTriddles:

[1] None and far too much on the same date
[2] two years before and after
[3] 7th a.k.a 3rd
[4] 600 = 1047 = 756 = Washington's final initials
[5] Right! What's a cubit?
[6] yak, divi, tatu, patru, pet, vets, yedi, otto, ni, deset - Appropriate for whom?


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