TTriddles "Report"

TTriddles for Parashat Vayakhel-P'kudei

This week’s TTriddles:

[1] Announce the anniversary of the 7th
[2] Sadir Scissors, Keva Paper, and ?
[3] CHAGIM V’ZMANIM L’SASSON
[4] The kohanim aren’t the only clothed ones
[5] Poker hand? 3 sovereigns and 2 aces
[6] Cookie Monster and chocolate milk
[7] Eat one cubic meter of chocolate mousse and become a Member of the Order of Canada. Checkmate!

Last issue’s (KI TISA - PARA) TTriddles:

[1] Does this gefilte fish have a Belz hashgacha?
The word ROKEI’ACH means apothecary and refers to the special way the incense and the anointing oil were com- pounded for the Mishkan. MAASEI RO- KEI’ACH. That same word, spelled ROKEACH, is the family name of the Belzer Rebbes: Sholom, the first rebbe; Yehoshua, the second rebbe; Yissachar Dov, the third rebbe; Aharon, the fourth rebbe; another Yissachar Dov, the fifth and current rebbe - their family name is pronounced ROKEI’ACH or ROKACH - either way, the spelling is the same. And - not necessarily with any connection, we have ROKEACH (pronounced by some as ROKEI’ACH and by others a ROKEACH rhyming with peach and teach) brand foods, most famous of which is their gefilte fish. (ROKEACH is now a brand name of the Manischewitz Company, but that’s beyond the scope of this TTriddle.) Therefore, in a TTriddle world, ROKEACH gefilte fish should have a Belz hashgacha.

[2] Two Torah match for some of our grandparents
There are some TTriddles that don’t - or won’t - go away. They aren’t satisfied to be the subject of only one TTriddle. They keep coming back and saying, do me again - but differently. Some of our grandparents spoke Yiddish. And of those, some used the Galitziana (pardon the spelling) pronunciation for their Yiddish. For them, a cow is a KI (sounds like KEY). For them, last week’s two Torahs matched, in that we read KEY tisa (or sisa) in the first and about the roiteh (red) KEY in the second.

[3] Taking away a day adds 12 hours
This one’s a more serious TTriddle than most. Brit Mila can be done only in the daytime, not at night. This is taught to us from the Torah’s use of the words UVAYOM HASH’MINI, and on the 8th DAY - specifically day. Lulav & Etrog (and the other two species) are taken during the day, not at night. This was are taught from ULKACHTEM LACHEM BAYOM HARISHON, BAYOM, not at night. So how to we understand ZACHOR ET YOM HASHABBAT L’KAD’SHO? is the mitzva to remember Shabbat a daytime mitzva only? Hardly. In fact, the definition of this mitzva is the making of Kiddush on Friday night and Havdala at night after Shabbat. The question is even broader. Does the repeated use of YOM HASHABBAT possibly mean day and not night? Perish the thought! And what is the textual cue for Shabbat being the whole 24+ hour experience in all aspects? One such cue is found in Ki Tisa when we are told, M’CHAL’LEHA MOT YUMAT, those who desecrate HER are liable to the death penalty. HER does not refer to YOM HASHABBAT, which is masculine, but rather to SHABBAT, which is feminine. By taking away a day - that is, the word YOM, and referring to Shabbat as “SHABBAT”, we have actually added the other 12 hours, besides the ones that YOM HASHABBAT might have indicated.

[4] The letter YUD
Okay, this is one of those TTriddles that we really don’t expect anyone to get - implying that we DO expect some people to solve the others. G-d describes Shabbat as, BEINI UVEIN B’NEI YISRAEL (between Me and the Children of Israel) OT HI L’OLAM (it is an eternal sign). Taking the word OT, not as sign, but as letter, what is the letter that is BEINI UVEIN B’NEI ISRAEL? What is the letter common to both G-d’s name and the name of Israel? The answer is, the letter YUD.

[5] The fast break of 44
The Torah reading for fast days comes from Parshat Ki Tisa. It is unique among Torah readings in that we begin reading for the first Aliya (VAYCHAL) and then we skip to P’SOL L’CHA for the next two Aliyot. There are haftara situations where we skip in order to finish the haftara on a high note, but this is the only time in Torah reading where there is a skip. In fact, on the Shabbat that is during Pesach, we read the Musaf of Pesach as the Maftir. Since it’s Shabbat too, why not read those two Shabbat p’sukim in Parshat Pinchas, skip over the p’sukim of Rosh Chodesh and continue with Pesach? Good idea, but we don’t skip. Maybe the reason is that it would be within the same Aliya, but you get the point. On fast days, we skip over 44 p’sukim, giving us a “fast break” of 44 (p’sukim).

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