[1] President Shimon R?
Parshat R’ei and Parshat Sh’mini each present the animals we may and may not eat. There are differences between the two versions - most notable is the list of animals (mammals) we may eat, which is found in R’ei, but not in Sh’mini. Irrelevant to this TTriddle. What is relevant is the list of non-kosher birds. Specifically, the pasuk, V’ZEH ASHER LO TOCHLU MEIHEM, and these shall not be eaten among them (the birds), HANESHER V’HAPERES V’HA- OZNIYA. This is the first of seven p’sukim that list the 21 types of birds (animals with wings might be a better translation because of the inclusion of BATs on the list) that we may not eat. The identity of the birds is the subject of debate; some translators refuse to translate the names at all. Rav Aryeh Kaplan z"l in The Living Torah renders NESHER as eagle, but challenges that in a footnote where the griffin vulture (largest carnivorous bird in Israel) is suggested as the NESHER. Still irrelevant for this TTriddle, but the background is educational. Now we come to the PERES (not irrelevant). Again, from The Living Torah: Ossifrage, Peres in Hebrew… Latin for bone breaker… largest European bird of prey… resembling both the eagle and the vulture. However, the Torah is not naming exact species, but broad categories… Some identify it with the bearded vulture that lives in the Holy Land. Most importantly for this TTriddle is Targum Onkeles. The three birds of this pasuk are rendered as NISHRA, AR, and OZYA. Hence, President Shimon R?

[2] When more or less is less
With adding to the Torah and subtracting from it both prohibited - BAL TOSIF and BAL TIGRA - we would be justified in saying that more or less are both less, since each violates the Torah.

[3] The “preferred” drink for this week’s sedra
Many years ago, the tea industry came together with an ad campaign hoping to win over some of the millions of coffee drinkers. Their slogan was Take Tea and See. Hence the connection to Parshat R’ei (see). The Tea Council of the USA wrote: “How simple and refreshing! Let’s not try to sell a specific brand of tea, instead, let’s just concentrate on selling the idea of tea…” One of their ads read: “When you find yourself going around in circles, have a cup of tea; most cheerful stuff in the world. Try drinking tea with your evening meal for a week; see if the world doesn’t look a little brighter. Tea psyches you up.”

[4] The ear of the kosher animals
Sneaky Hebrew-English play on words. EAR here means the Hebrew word for city, IR. The city among the list of kosher mammals is AKKO. The akko is the ibex, a wild goat, a.k.a. YA’EL - which is both the modern Hebrew for the ibex as well as a Biblical name for the animal, which can be found in Shmuel Alef, T’hilim, and the book of Iyov. It can also found at Ein Gedi.

[5] The two says…
Another sneaky Hebrew-English play. This time, we took advantage of the fact that when an S is added to the verb SAY, the result doesn’t rhyme with rays and days, but rather with fez. If you read the word says as if it did rhyme with days, then you would be closer to the solution of the TTriddle. SAY=SEI as in SEI CH’VASIM and SEI IZIM, sheep and goats - two of the three kosher domestic animals.

[6] first R’ei doesn’t match sense
The word R’EI occurs 52 times in the Tanach. The first time it appears is when Yitzchak is talking to Yaakov, thinking that he is Eisav. He asks his son approach him and kiss him. B’reishit 27:27 - And he came near, and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which G-d has blessed. Since Yitzchak was blind at the time, his use of the word see related to smell is understandable.

[7] the sedra-appropriate bird

[8] Sounds a bit like Heckle and Jeckle
We can handle these two TTriddles as one, since their solutions lie in the same pasuk. Another of the p’sukim listing the non-kosher birds. V’HARAA, V’ET HA-AYA V’HA- DAYA, the white vulture, the black vulture, the kite (with variations from different sources). RAA is spelled the same as R’EI, making it the sedra- appropriate bird. AYA and DAYA rhyme, as do Heckle and Jeckle, two cartoon magpies. SInce magpies are in the crow and raven family, they are probably included in another of the p’sukim - V’EIT KOL OREIV L’MINO. Interesting that raven is the one bird on the list that has its own pasuk and has the word KOL, all ravens, possibly indicating that the category includes many other types of birds, all related to the crow family, of course.

[9] MazalPic
The mazal of Elul is the BETULA. VIRGO, the virgin. The planet associated with Virgo is Mercury. The planet Mercury is named for the Roman mythology character who was known for being a speedy messenger. The planet Mercury speeds around the Sun in only 88 days, earning its name. The only metal that is liquid at room temperature is mercury. It is known as quicksilver because of how fast it moves (being a liquid). The symbol for this mercury - the metalic element, not the planet - is Hg, which is the MazalPic this month.

[10] Unexplained
The right triangle with the right angle marked C represents the first two words of the sedra. C = see = R’EI. This we’ve used a few times in different ways. The right angle is formed by the two perpendicular legs of the triangle. The Hebrew word for perpendicular or right-angled (also vertical) is ANACHI, spelled the same as, and sounding similar to ANOCHI, as in R’EI ANOCHI…

• Other TTriddles "Report"
• TTRIDDLES... are Torah Tidbits-style riddles on Parshat HaShavua (sometimes on the calendar). They are found in the hard-copy of
• TTRIDDLES... are Torah Tidbits-style riddles on Parshat HaShavua (sometimes on the calendar). They are found in the hard-copy of
• TTriddles