TTriddles "Report"

TTriddles - Parashat Ki Tisa

This week’s TTriddles:

[1] Does this gefilte fish have a Belz hashgacha?
[2] 2 Torah match for some of our grandparents
[3] Taking away a day adds 12 hours
[4] The letter YUD
[5] The fast break of 44

Last issue’s (T’tzaveh-Purim) TTriddles:

[1] Moshe : Bnei Yisrael :: Yehoshua : Kohanim

This reads: Moshe is to Bnei Yisrael as Yehoshua is to the kohanim. The answer is V’ATA T’TZAVEH, the opening words of Parshat T’tzveh. Aside for Sh’mot 27:20 (Parshat T’tzaveh), the phrase occurs only one other time in all of Tanach. Yehoshua 3:8 begins - V’ATA T’TZAVEH ET HAKOHANIM… And you, Yehoshua, shall command the kohanim who are carrying the “Aron HaB’rit”.

[2] Reynolds Boys’ Choir

Aluminum foil is generally called NIYAR KESEF, which would render back into English as silver foil, a common term for aluminum foil, even though it was never made of silver. It looks like silver (which is also easier to say than aluminum) and on a roll it can easily be called G’LILEI CHESEF. That phrase is used in the description of Achashveirosh’s decorated garden where the special 7-day party for Shushites was held. The hangings were on silver rods and AMUDEI SHAISH, pillars of marble. AMUDEI SHAISH is also the name of a boys’ choir that made a name for itself a bunch of decades ago.

[3] 456 gems

The gemstones of the CHOSHEN were arranged in four rows of three stones each. The keypad of a telephone or cellphone has its 12 keys arranged in the same way. The 456 row is the TUR HASHEINI, the second row. In the CHOSHEN, those stones were NOFECH, SAPIR, YAHALOM. The Artscroll Stone Chumash wisely transliterates the names of the stones rather than attempt to translate them, because there are so many different opinions. Living Torah translates them as carbuncle, sapphire, and beryl, and in the footnotes brings many other possibilities and colors.

[4] From Yechezkel HaNavi to Shimon HaTzadik

Just for the connection, let’s start at the Israel Center and go north on Keren HaYesod. After Kikar Paris, the street name changes to King George. Keep going north. After Yafo, the street is now called Straus. Past HaNevi’im and Bikur Cholim Hospital, you can wave to the old Center building at 10 Straus. Keep going north and after Kikar Shabbat you are now on Rechov Yechezkel. We’re getting there. After the Bucharian shuk, you come to Rechov Shmuel HaNavi. Past it, the road turns to the right and becomes Rechov Shimon HaTzadik. But the piece of the street that is the curve between Yechezkel and Shimon HaTzadik has its own name - PITUCHEI CHOTAM, engraved like a signet ring. It is a term used in Parshat T’tzaveh (and in P’kudei), to describe the method of engraving the names of the sons of Yaakov on the stones of the EIFOD and the CHOSHEN (and KODESH LASHEM on the TZITZ).

[5] Limited to 250.5

When Achashveirosh asks Esther what she wants, he offers anything up to half his kingdom. AD CHATZI HAMAL- CHUT. Numerically, HAMALCHUT is 5+40+30+20+6+400 = 501. Therefore, CHATZI HAMALCHUT is 250, 105 -  by the way, is one off a significant number in Megila gimatriya. Both BARUCH MORDECHAI and ARUR HAMAN have the same gimatriya, 502. This fact makes it not only difficult to distinguish between those two phrases - which is the test for sufficient consumption of wine on Purim, but impossible. Unless you use AT-BASH gimatriya, in which case the phrases total 596 and 595 respectively.

[6] Ours have 2; its has one

Our mouths have two lips. The “mouth” of the ME’IL had one SAFA that went completely around it.

[7] Fighting Illini, Hoosiers, Hawkeyes, Wolverines, Spartans, Golden Gophers, Wildcats, Buckeyes, Nittany Lions, Boiler Makers, Badgers - and who?

The Big Ten Conference is a union of 11 (don’t ask) world-class academic institutions who share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service… strong tradition of competitive intercollegiate athletic programs… The names in the TTriddle are the team names of the members of the BIG TEN. And who? TERESH, of course, as in BIGTEN VATERESH. (Okay, BIGTAN, but whose counting?)

 

 

• 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