Parsha Pix In the upper left corner of the ParshaPix is part of one of the very first ParshaPixPuzzles of years ago. There is a BLOCK (sounds like BALAK) in a nest, which makes it BLOCK BEN TZIPOR Globe wearing an eye patch. Balak said that Israel was so numerous that we covered EIN HAARETZ, the eye of the Earth (as does the patch in that graphic) Messengers from Moav came to Bil'am with K'SAMIM B'YADAM, represented by the magic trick in the hand Bil'am's donkey saw the sword drawn in the angel's hand; Bil'am did not see it at first (or second or third) When the donkey talks to Bil'am, she asks him why he has hit her these three REGALIM, three times. Commentaries point out that it doesn't say P'AMIM, three times, but rather uses the word that refers to our cycle of holidays and to the People who observe them. The angel repeats the reference to SHALOSH REGALIM. The speech-bubble for the donkey contains the question (mark) about the three festivals, represented by the Lulav, Matza, and Torah Chicago basketball player, one of the BULLS and a St. Louis football player, one of the RAMS. Bulls and rams, 7 of each, (hence the large numeral 7) were repeatedly offered as sacrifices by Bil'am and Balak Clapping hands - a representation of Balak striking his hands together in disgust at Bil'am's repeated failure to do as requested. VAYISPOK. A unique word in Tanach, appearing nowhere else The Xed out snake is also from Bil'am's words, that there is no NACHASH in Yaakov. His meaning is that we do not rely on omens A "house filled with money" - sort of what Balak told Bil'am that he missed out on by not uttering one teensy weeny curse The shul in the lower-left corner reminds us of the famous MA TOVU OHALECHA YAAKOV... Lying across the bottom of the ParshaPix is the ROMACH, the spear that Pinchas used to protect G-d's honor The river of oil from the pitcher is mentioned in the haftara On the reverse side of a US dollar bill is a picture of the Great Seal: A pyramid with an all-seeing eye on top. Sometimes called the enlightened eye. Bil'am calls himself the man with SH'TUM HA-AYIN. Living Torah offers these translations: enlightened, future-seeing, seeing, open, true-sighted, sleepless, evil, dislocated, blinded. In the upper-right corner of the ParshaPix is a MEM, representing the MEM that is at the upper-right corner of the column in the Torah that starts with MA TOVU OHALECHA YAAKOV... What is remarkable about this MEM is that there is a Scribal Tradition that six specific columns in the Torah (out of 245 or so) need to start at a specific point in the text. All other columns are flexible, in a sense, and the exact beginning of each column will vary from Sofer to Sofer. (Actually, today's Sifrei Torah are written by copying from photocpies of a small number of existing Sifrei Torah whose writing is considered particularly good. So there is more uniformity from Torah to Torah - more than would be expected from the Tradition we're talking about.) This Tradition clashes a bit with another Tradition that each column begin with a VAV. This is a standard feature of most Sifrei Torah today, although it is only six specific columns that "must" begin the same way. Of the six, one starts with a VAV anyway, leaving 5 of about 245 columns that do not start with a VAV. One is the first column, which starts with the big BET of B'REISHIT. The MEM in Balak is another. Two others are the columns that begin the two "song" portions - HABA'IM at the top of the AZ YASHIR column and V'A'IDA at the top of the first of the two Haazinu columns. ET is for ITI, with me. The occurs 52 times in Tanach and brings to mind the extraterrestrial who wanted to phone home. Balak asks Bil'am to go with him to another vantage point and see the Israelite camp. The Shofar and crown go together and represent the pasuk, Bamidbar 23:21, in which Bil'am proclaims, "He has not seen iniquity in Jacob, nor has he seen perverseness in Israel; HaShem his God is with him, and the TRUMPET BLAST OF A KING (UTRU'AT MELECH) is among them." 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 (CHUKAT) TTriddles: [1] What GERMS used to do in Mr. C's class Personal: This was a patently unfair TTriddle, meant to be solvable only by a few individuals who went to YCQ back in the days I taught there. GERMS are (were) Grade Eight Reagents Math Students and they were YOSHEIV B'CHESHBON, sitting in math class - just like (in a TTriddles way) Sinchon Melech HaEmori did (Bamidbar 21:34). [2] Yes in one sense, no in the other The treatment of a person who is T'MEI MEIT, ritually defiled from contact with a dead body, requires a "shpritz" of the Para Aduma potion on the third day and on the seventh day of the seven-day period of TUM'A. Does the shpritz happen on YOM HASH'VI'I? In one sense of the term (the one just described), YES. But in the other sense of the term, YOM HASH'VI'I is SHABBAT, and on Shabbat, the Para Aduma potion was not "applied". [3] One of his daughters is named for one of his five (flipped syllables) Daughters is the Torah's term for suburbs, as in Bamidbar 21:25, "And Israel took all these cities; and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Cheshbon, and in all its villages." Rashi explains B'NOTEHA (lit. her daughters) as villages nearby the city. The city referred to in the TTriddle is New York City and the one of its five (boroughs) is Brooklyn. One of the many suburbs that NYC has is Lynbrook, Long Island. Its name was made by flipping the syllables of Brooklyn. [4] septennial water dedication Septennial is something that happens once in seven years. Here, it refers to the mitzva of HAK-HEIL, that takes place in the time of the Beit HaMikdash, during the Sukkot immediately following a Sh'mita year. The term HAK-HEIL (the command to gather the people), is found in two other contexts. One is in Parshat Chukat, when Moshe was told to gather the people and speak to the rock which would then give forth water. The other time the word is used is in Parshat Tzav in preparation for the dedication (inauguration might have been a better word) of the Mishkan and the Kohanim. [5] the two "geography" sedra-pairs Remember the game of Geography? I say Denmark and you say a country that begins with the same letter that my country ends with. Kenya. Albania. Afganistan. Netherlands. Remember? Well, there are two pairs of consecutive sedras that exhibit this property. KORACH and CHUKAT is one such "geography sedra-pair". The other is HAAZINU and V'ZOT HAB'RACHA. [6] Red and red hot RED rerfers to the Para Aduma. That was easy. RED HOT refers to the amount of heating needed to kasher a metal vessel that is used with fire. This we learned originally in the context of the vessels brought back as spoils of war from the successful battle against Midyan (the cause of which is in Parshat Balak, the call to arms of which is in Parshat Pinchas, and the actual battle of which is in Parshat Matot). And what is the connection between red and red hot, between the Para Aduma and the mitzva of purging vessels? ZOT CHUKAT HATORAH. Ask anyone who knows Torah even a little, what the Torah is talking about when it introduces the topic with the words: This is the quintessential CHOK of the Torah, and he or she is likely to say PARA ADUMA. Ask what other mitzva is similarly introduced, and most people will draw a blank on that one. ZOT CHUKAT HATORAH occurs only twice in the Torah. The other one is in Matot (Bamidbar 31:21), and it was said by Elazar HaKohen (HaGadol) to the officers of the army, as part of their instructions of purifying themselves to return to the encampment of Bnei Yisrael. This week's TTriddles: [1] also appropriate for 12 weeks hence [2] And the oral version of [5]? [3] What did Jenny say? [4] Bil'am had his donkey; Balak has his horse. Explain. How much is his horse? Two answers, please. [5] Torah: 47&79 (7), 79&47 (2) [The Parshat Balak Homepage] |
