PARSHA-PIX Parshat Miketz

Parsha Pix
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. (Just as Mickey was unable to stop the mops from drawing more and more water.)
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 Menorah - 10 of them, count them - are the additional ones Shlomo HaMelech made and placed five on each side of the "real" Menora in the Beit HaMikdash.
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.
Club 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] sign of adamancy (this time)
When Yosef resists the advances of Potifar's wife, the Torah uses the word, VAIMA'EIN, "and he refused". The TROP-note on the word is the rare SHALSHELET. When it is read during Torah reading, one can feel that Yosef's refusal was indeed adamant.
[2] gently shaken popcorn with the king's eyelash
POTIFAR S'RIS PAR'O, Potifar, one of the officers of Par'o. Gently shake (i.e. rearrange) the letters of POTIFAR and the first SAMACH of S'RIS and you get POP TIRAS (which is popcorn, is you also misspell TIRAS - EB caught us on that misspelling, but allowed it as TTriddle-license). The rest of S'RIS, namely, REISH-YUD-SAMACH spells RIS, Hebrew for eye lash. And Par'o is the king.
[3] This Shabbat, 1; Next Shabbat 10
This Shabbat refers to the first Shabbat-Chanuka; it's haftara mentions a golden Menora - one Menora. Next Shabbat, referring to this week, i.e. the second Shabbat-Chanuka, the haftara speaks of ten Menoras of Shlomo HaMelech.
[4] Negating Greek Hellenist Philosophy
EB, who had an otherwise well-done solution set for last week's TTriddles, submitted a solution for this one too, but rightly realized that his answer was too serious and straightforward for a TTriddle. Correct on that count, EB. The wording in this TTriddle, which is one way to describe the victory of the Chashmona'im has the initials NGHP, which is the English equivalent of the letters on an Israeli dreidel, for NEIS GADOL HAYA PO, NUN-GIMEL-HEI-PEI.
[5] hero of the third is initially from all five
Here's where EB really shines as a Top-level TTriddler. He solved this one, even though there was an error in its presentation. It should have been:
hero of the fourth is initially from all five
The fourth stanza of MA'OZ TZUR is about Purim. The hero is MORDECHAI. He is the author (not the same Mordechai, but...) of MA'OZ TZUR, whose name is spelled by the first letters (initially) of the first five stanzas of the song.
[6] The Mazal (Zodiac) TTriddle
With the benching of the month of Tevet, the Mazal graphic in the Word of the Month box on page 2 changed to the TT representation of Capricorn, the Goat. Last year, we used an Oakland A's baseball cap, because A's sounds like EIZ (AYIN ZAYIN), which is Hebrew for goat. This year, we have two Zuzim coins representing the CHAD GADYA, the one goat that father bought - from the song of the same name at the very end of the Pesach Hagada.

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Joins some of Yishmael's sons, some afflictions, and more on Motza"Sh
[2] homonyms linking Par'o's cows and RCh's lambs
[3] 2 kings (8th & 12th) and French writer and philosopher AC?
[4] “on the day” and “after”

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