PARSHA-PIX Va'etchanan

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Parsha Pix
Upper left is a plus and minus in a negation circle. The Torah forbids (a few times) adding to the Torah or detracting from it.
Once again, the Torah tells us of the mitzva to designate cities of refuge - 3 on the east side of the Jordan (and 3 on the west side).
The LUCHOT in the TORAH on the mountain stands for the repetition of the Aseret HaDibrot (with changes) and reminds us that the whole Torah was given by G-d at Sinai, not just the Big Ten.
The Shabbat candlesticks represent SHAMOR and ZACHOR. They are contained B'DIBUR ECHAD, in one speech- bubble.
The hearing ear represents SH'MA, not just the famous one, but the many times the Torah commands us to listen (and understand).
The warning lights represent Moshe's warnings to us to remain faithful to HaShem and not to be confused by what we witnessed but cannot completely comprehend.
The big number 1 is for HaShem Echad, as well as the other pasuk that emphasizes G-d's Unity, 4:35, ...there is none besides Him.
The reminder-finger is for the command to never forget the Sinai experience and to pass on the memory to future generations.
The Seder plate is for the Chacham's question and the answer of We were slaves to Par'o in Egypt... both of which are found in Va'etchanan.
The Simchat Torah scene is for the pasuk ATA HOR-EITA LADA'AT... which is associated with Simchat Torah (for Nusach Ashkenaz daveners).
The speaker and an Xed out video monitor: On that great day of Revelation at Sinai, we HEARD what was said, but we did NOT SEE any image. This is mentioned more than once, and is a reason for Moshe's deep concern and warnings to the people.
The (clock) face in the face is for the term PANIM BIFANIM, the description of the direct, intimate communication of G-d to the people of Israel.
The space telescope is for Yeshayahu's words at the end of the Haftara: Lift your eyes heavenward and see Who created these.
The pen is for the 5 PENs in the sedra and another two U'FENs. Not so remarkable, but they are associated with the remember - don't forget things that Moshe talks about. Hence, the PEN near the reminder string on the finger image in the ParshaPix.
Then there is the grasshopper. The word K'CHA- GAVIM, like grasshoppers, appears only twice in Tanach. Back in Parshat Shlach, the Meraglim told the people about the giants in the land, "we felt like grasshoppers (compared with them) and so were we in their eyes". Commentaries point critically to this statement. The other place the word appears is Yeshayahu 40 - the haftara of Va'etchanan- Nachamu. In that context, the inhabitants of Earth are called grasshoppers in perspective of the "One Who sits above the circle of the earth".
There are also two items from last week's ParshaPix that were unexplained. Anchor is OGEN - en = OG. The kazoo is for the ZAMZUMIM.

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 (D'VARIM) TTriddles:
[1] give under 800
With the Hebrew alef-bet of 22 letters, there are 484 possible two-letter words. In Tanach, 223 of those possible words exist. (There are other 2-letter words in Hebrew, but they are not found in the Tanach, at least not as 2-letter words.) This TTriddle is about one of the 2-letter words in Tanach, specifically TEIT, spelled TAV-TAV. It appears 14 times in Tanach, three of those in the Torah, two of which are in Parshat D'varim. The word means "give", as in the TTriddle. The word TAT, same spelling is not found in Tanach. It means "under", as in TAT-KARKA, under- ground, TAT ALUF, the Brigadier General (whose rank is right under that of ALUF). The g'matriya of the word is 800. There's your TTriddle. Sometime in the future, IY"H, we'll have the count of each of the 2-letter words in Tanach. Suffice it now to say that several occur only once, and others occur thousands of times each. The winner is most definitely ALEF-TAV which occurs 7369 times in Tanach.
[2] Very high scoring in the bottom of the first or top of the second
Bottom of the first and top of the second are baseball terms, but they have nothing to do with baseball for this TTriddle; it just added color. What the phrases do refer to is the pasuk that is the last of the first Aliya for Shabbat Mincha, Monday and Thursday mornings, when that first Aliya is subdivided to three people. That same pasuk becomes the first (top) pasuk of the second Aliya on Shabbat morning, so that the Aliya does not begin with the EICHA pasuk. The pasuk in question produces a very high score: "May Hashem, the G-d of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as you are, and bless you, as He has promised you!"
[3] Wise people, advice, 3 people per
HAVU LACHEM... Choose for yourselves... In D'varim, ANASHIM CHACHAMIM, wise people. In Sh'muel Bet (and one place in Shoftim), it is advice that is to be sought. In Shoftim, it is three people per (tribe).
[4] Yitro, Vayakhel, post-B'reishit
EILEH HAD'VARIM... these are the things. The opening words of the Book of D'varim occur four other times in Tanach. In Parshat Yitro, reference is to the preparations for Matan Torah at Har Sinai. In Vayakhel, it is the requirement to keep the Shabbat, even when building the Mikdash. In Yeshayahu, if occurs in the portion that is the haftara of Parshat B'reishit, hence, post-B'reishit. The other occurrence is not part of this TTriddle.
[5] The familiar one dot father-son team and only once for someone else
Most (almost all) father-son teams are of the three-dot kind, i.e. PLONI BEN PLONI, with the vowel under the BET of BEN being the three-dot SEGOL. We are all familiar with the one-dot father-son team, namely, YEHOSHUA BIN NUN, with a CHIRIK under the BET. They appear 29 times in Tanach, with slight variations in YEHOSHUA's name, on occasion. There is only one other father-son team to carry the one-dot designation. They are mentioned only once in Tanach, at the beginning of chapter 30 of Mishlei, to be specific. AGUR BIN YAKEH spoke some of the proverbs in this chapter. He seems not to have had to high an opinion of himself. Take a look.
[6] Sort of like PagoPago, just more awake
This is visual rather than auditory, but the answer is the name of a place mentioned in D'varim (and earlier at the end of Bamidbar). The place is by the bank of the Arnon River, ARO-EIR. The name is spelled AYIN-REISH-AYIN-REISH and seemed to call to mind PagoPago (pronounced Pango Pango), which is the capital of American Samoa, in the South Pacific.

NachKwestion of the Week
Common factor in each pair:
Gid'on/Micha
Zerach/Yaakov
Shimshon/Aholiav
Dan/Bet El
Z'vul/Amon
Gid'on made an EIFOD (Shoftim 8:27) and so did Micha (Shoftim 17:5).
Zerach and Yaakov are each a twin, a younger twin at that.
Shimshon and Aholiav were both from the Tribe of Dan.
Dan and Beit El are the two cities in which Yeravam ben Nevat placed golden calves, in order to dissuade the people from traveling to Yerushalayim.
Z'vul and Amon both had the title of SAR HA'IR.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Same spelling, different pronunciations, opposite meanings
[2] sing separate fume eat approach
[3] Va'etchanan, always; Ki Tisa, sometimes; Pinchas, never
[4] P George Frederick Ernest Albert
[5] actually, this one is memorable too

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