PARSHA-PIX Parshat Tzav

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Parsha PixTTRIDDLES...
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 (VAYIKRA) TTriddles:
[1] Double, 3 times in Yeshayahu and nowhere else; one of which we read this Shabbat
ANOCHI ANOCHI, a double-word phrase that occurs only three times in Tanach, all in the book of Yeshayahu. One of those times was in the haftara for Parshat Vayikra. Most doubling of words in Tanach create a flurry of comments in the M’forshim. This is no exception. Here most commentators say that it is for emphasis that it is G-d Himself Who blots out our sins (for His own sake) and will not remember our sins.

[2] That's what the M'chabeir says
The Torah says (Vayikra 2:5, and similarly in other p’sukim): And if your sacrifice is a meal offering baked in a pan (Mincha Al HaMachavat), it shall be of fine flour mixed with oil, it shall be matza. It is the author of the Shulchan Aruch (the M’chabeir) who says that if one mixes flour with oil (or other liquids classified as MEI PEIROT), then it cannot become Chameitz. It does become MATZA ASHIRA. Ashkenazi tradition is not to eat such baked goods, except for the very young, the elderly and the infirm. The above information is vastly incomplete and is “for TTriddle use only”.

[3] Ashkenazic pronunciation could describe it or its accompaniment
N’TACHIM are the cut up pieces of a Korban. Ashkenazic pronunciation is N’SAwCHIM. Which sounds very much like N’SACHIM (with a SAMACH and a CHAF rather than a TAV and CHET), which is the wine libation that accompanied most korbanot. This TTriddle was inspired by the main source of the Towards better Davening and Torah Reading column, EIM LAMIKRA HASHALEIM by R’ Nisan Sharoni. He actually alerts a Torah reader to be careful to pronounce N’TACHIM properly, so it won’t sound like N’SACHIM. Easy for a Yemenite to say and for a S’faradi to comply, but...

[4] One (51.7%), two (30.1%) three (18.1%)
There are 14 year-types in the Jewish calendar. 14 different arrangements of the calendar, differences based on the day of the week the year starts, the lengths of Cheshvan and Kislev, and whether the year has 12 or 13 months, 1 or 2 Adars. 7 of the year types are 12-month years and 7 are 13-month years. In 6 of the 7 regular year types, Vayikra is read alone, i.e. we use one Sefer Torah on those Shabbatot. In 6 of the 7 13-month year types, Vayikra is Shabbat Zachor, and we read from two Torahs. In the remaining Shana M’uberet type, Vayikra is read alone. And in one 12-month year type, which happens to be the most common one, Vayikra is HaChodesh AND Rosh Chodesh Nissan, for which we read from three Sifrei Torah (and partake of three different kugels). The percentages in the statement of this TTriddle are the frequencies of Vayikra being a 1, 2, or 3 Torah (kugel) Shabbat.

[5] Preceded and followed by the likes of Queen Elizabeth, Susan Taragin and Menachem Persoff
The three named people are from England (two of whom made Aliya and live in Israel, the other, being non-Jewish has no mitzva to live in Israel anyway). People of British origin are often referred to as Brits. (An affectionate term, of course.) The word from Vayikra that is preceded by and followed by the word BRIT is MELACH, salt. BRIT MELACH occurs in Bamidbar and in Divrei HaYamim. MELACH BRIT occurs in Vayikra.

[6] Warp
This was a Footer-TTriddle, meaning a TTriddle contained in the footer of a page. Footer TTriddles almost always relate to the issue number, rather than the sedra or a calendar event.
Among the many definitions of the word WARP, which can be a verb or a noun, is this one:
The threads that run lengthwise in a woven fabric, crossed at right angles to the woof
In Hebrew, warp is SH’TI, spelled SHIN-TAV-YUD with a numeric value of 710, as in TT #710.

[7] Rambling with Gambling
This too was a Footer TTriddle, but unlike the previous one, which no one solved, this one was solved by at least three solvers. Rambling with Gambling was the name of the longest running radio program in history. It was hosted by three generations of Gamblings, with father and son often co-hosting. The show as aired on New York’s WOR radio, 710 on the AM dial. What made this show precious to generations of kids who grew up in New York was the fact that they announced school closings during snowstorms. We would halfheartedly get dressed in the morning of a snowy day and eagerly listen to one of the Gamblings reading the list of private schools (including yeshivot) until we heard the name of our school. The whoops of joy forever enshrined the Gambilngs and WOR 710 in our hearts.

NachKwestion of the Week
If you think of this bracha, you have to say it; otherwise you don’t. (submitted by Shmaya)
First of all, there is a type of answer we have to reject immediately. You are about to drink a glass of water. If you think of Shehakol, you have to say it. But if you don’t think of it then you don’t say it. This would go for every single bracha, but it doesn’t fit the meaning of the Kwestion. If you forget to make a bracha, you don’t say it, but you still have to. You just didn’t.

The NachKweston is looking for a bracha that you say only if you thought of it, but you don’t say, you don’t have to say, you shouldn’t say, if you did not think of it, even though you are aware of it now.

This was a tough one. But it is elegant and some of you will enjoy challenging others with it, now that you know the answer.

If on Shabbat morning Shacharit, a person is saying the Amida and after HAKEIL HAKADOSH he says the word ATA (instead of YISMACH MOSHE), then he continues the weekday bracha of ATA CHONEIN, and after he finishes the bracha, he proceeds with the Shabbat bracha, YISMACH MOSHE... What happens on Friday night or at Mincha on Shabbat, if after the first three brachot he says the word ATA. Since the weekday bracha and Shabbat bracha both start with the same word - ATA, it would seem that he just continues Shabbat. However, the rule is that if when he said the word ATA he THOUGHT OF THE BRACHA ATA CHONEIN, then he says it. If he didn’t think of that bracha, then he doesn’t say it, doesn’t have to say it, should not say it, but he just continues with the Shabbat bracha of ATA KIDASHTA or ATA ECHAD, as the case may be.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Instructed to do this in Tzav, Chukat, and Vayeilech (where it is one of the 613)
[2] Shmuel, Yechezkel, and Malachi all push him aside. Shmuel more so in Jerusalem.
[3] Lux et Veritas
[4] first/fourth; second/stop' third/triple
[5] We preview it; they celebrate it - when?

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