PARSHA-PIX Parshat To-l'dot

Parsha Pix
Top-left is Yaakov with his lentil stew.
Next to him is one of Yitzchak's workers on a break from digging wells.
Continuing across the top, we come to a Seder plate. Rashi tells us that it was the first night of (the future) Pesach that Yaakov presented himself to Yitzchak for the bracha. Rivka told Yaakov to bring her two goats. Just to feed Yitzchak, you need two goats? Rashi answers that one was for the main dish and the other for Korban Pesach. Similarly, commentaries mention the wine that Yaakov gave to Yitzchak as being part of a "Seder", and that his cleverness (mentioned in Rashi) was feeding Yitzchak Korban Pesach, so he could not eat Eisav's food also. Realize that these ideas exist on a different level of Torah from plain P'SHAT.
Upper-right is a king on his father's back. The hand is pointing to the father, who would be AVIMELECH. This is not the only pun in this week's ParshaPix, as you will see.
The rain cloud is part of the bracha that Yaakov received.
The sword is part of the bracha to Eisav.
The lion cub on the map of Israel is another pun - GUR BAARETZ HAZOT. Actually, live in this Land...
The tow truck is another pun - Yitzchak lived in GERAR.
The passport is for Yaakov who is being sent abroad by both Yitzchak and Rivka. Yitzchak never needed a passport, but Yaakov did.
The teddy bear is holding aloft the number 7 in one paw and an upraised hand in the other. There are two meanings to the name Be'er Sheva. One is from the seven sheep that Avraham gave Avimelech as a token of the covenant between them, and the other is for the oath(s) that were taken in that agreement. SHEVA has both connotations.
Lower-right is the Davka Judaica Graphic of Yaakov, the studious ISH TAM, dweller in the tent of Torah study, and Eisav, the ISH SADEH, the man of the field, the hunter.
Straus and Keren HaYesod are the streets on which the Israel Center was and is. They are Rechovot, as in the name of the well.
C is 100 in Roman numerals. With a gate inside the C, you get ME'AH SHE'ARIM.
Above the truck is the emblem of NAHAL, a part of IDF. Combined with the truck it reads NACHAL GERAR, the place where Yitzchak settled after Avimelech kicked him out of Gerar.
From the back of the tow truck is an arrow pointing to the computer icon for a DOS prompt. Together it gives the Ashkenazit pronunciation of the sedra, TOW-L' (to, that's the arrow) DOS.

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 (Chayei Sara) TTriddles:
[1] Congratulations to Pippin III and Bertrada of Laon on their marriage
Pippin the Third, a.k.a. Pippin the Short, was king of the Franks (751 - 768 the first king of the Carolingian dynasty and the father of Charlemagne. There's more, but that will do. He married Bertrada of Laon, a.k.a. Bertha of the Big Foot or Queen Goosefoot, in 740c.e. That makes this a Footer TTriddle, meaning one whose answer is the issue number of Torah Tidbits.
[2] High School reunion for alumni of the Mesivta of Zanesville, this Motza'ei Shabbat, not to take place at the Israel Center, Jerusalem Ir Kodsheinu
This was another Footer TTriddle - actually a double one. Several solvers got the easier part; HC got them both. Kol HaKavod. Zanesville is a city of 25,000 people in east-central Ohio. We doubt very much that it has a Metifta, but Zanesville's areacode is 740, which is the only reason this notice appeared in last week's Torah Tidbits. That Jerusalem is Ir Kodsheinu, our holy city, is true enough, but the reason for that description of the city was used because the numeric value of IR KODSHEINU is... you guessed it - 740.
[3] Namesakes, 10 generations apart, they each had 4. What?
This one is NOT a Footer TTriddle. The namesakes referred to are MILKA, wife of Nachor, mother of Betuel, grandmother of Rivka, great-grandmother of Yaakov Avinu. His great-grandson was Machir b. Menashe. Machir had a son Cheirer, whose son Tzelofchad was the father of the daughters of Tzelofchad, one of whom was MILKA, separated by 10 generations from her namesake. The younger Milka had four sisters. The earlier one had four... what do you call the children of your co-wife, or the children of your husband's Pilegesh? Well, whatever you call them, she had four - Tevach, Gacham, Tachash, and Maacha.
[4] In the B’reishit Man race, he beat him 9-8. Who? Whom?
The B'reishit Man race consists of who is called HA-ISH in the book of B'reishit, and how many times. The word HA-ISH occurs 70 times in the Torah; we are concerned only with the 28 times in B'reishit. Among those, Avraham, Yizchak, and Yaakov are called HaIsh once or twice. Binyamin once (although the brothers did not know they were referring to him at the time they said the word), twice it refers to the person who told Yosef where to find his brothers. In third place with 4 references as HaIsh, is the head of Yosef's household in Egypt - perhaps Menashe? Yosef is called HaIsh 8 times, and the winner is Eliezer, with 9 times being called HaIsh.
[5] Biblical counterparts of Marion Jones and Lauryn Williams, one aspect
The two women mentioned are both internationally known champion runners. What comes to mind in the Biblical connection, is the word VATARATZ, and she ran. The word occurs only four times in all of Tanach. With Rivka, twice. Once with Rachel. And once with the wife of Mano'ach, mother of Shimson (who would be the Biblical counterpart of other Olympics and World champions).
[6] The singer’s nephew is a sharp, questioning Oriental
A favorite feeding ground for TTriddles are the names in Tanach that are not the well-known ones, the oft-repeated one. Parshat Chayei Sara has two groups - the offspring of Ketura and those of Yishmael. The singer is ZIMRAN, first mentioned son of Avraham from Ketura. His nephew, i.e. Yishmael's sons CHADAD (sounds like the Hebrew for SHARP), TEIMA (a question kind of word in Aramaic), and KEIDMA (meaning Eastern, as in Oriental).
[7] What do Tzivia’s son and Shlomo’s mother have in common?
Tzivia was the mother of Y'ho-ash, king of Yehuda who ascended the throne at the age of seven, as it says: BEN SHEVA SHANIM Y'HO'ASH B'MOLCHO. Shlomo HaMelech's mother was BAT SHEVA (as mentioned in the haftara). So there is the connection - BEN SHEVA and BATSHEVA. Sneaky, no? HC got it.
[8] Sounds like heavy
Now we're back to Yishma'el's sons, this time, the three found in a rare three-word pasuk: USHMA, V'DUMA, UMASA. They each in turn sound like the Hebrew words for SOUNDS (SH'MA), LIKE (DOMEH), and HEAVY (MASA, a weight).
[9] Zodiac Mazal TTriddle
Reference to page 2, the Word of the Month box. The picture of a fish reminds one of ADAR, which it isn't yet. But ADAR would be two fish anyway. As in MAZAL ADAR DAGIM (plural). This fish for Kislev is the archerfish, as in Sagittarius, the Zodiac sign for Kislev. The Hebrew term, by the way, is KESHET, which refers to the bow, rather than the archer. Speaking of archerfish, its vertical position was meant to indicate what it was, even if one could not tell by its appearance. Read on in “Torah from Nature”

This week's TTriddles:
[1] Not a cheap handgun easily obtained and concealed, but...
[2] 1904-10 Ave. N, 78-15 Parsons Blvd...
[3] could 2612 have been in 5634?
[4] demitasse spoon last week; pygmy marmoset this week - sort of
[5] 1 of 39, Eisav (Yaakov) and who?

[The Parshat To-l'dot Homepage]
[The TORAH tidbits Homepage] [How to use TORAH tidbits]
[About The OU/NCSY Israel Center] [About TORAH tidbits]
 [www.ou.org]