TTriddles "Report"

TTRiddles....

This week’s TTriddles:

[1] Mr. E. Aries, the T-man
[2] Aunt Agatha Cutler
[3] X-ray man’s elemental family
[4] Is that like detached houses?
[5] If Moshzar is 60, what is Y’RI’OT?
[6] Be’er Sheva & Sana’a

Last issue’s (MISHPATIM) TTriddles:

[1] They should be cut on the 8th; they can be cut on the 8th

TTriddles solvers come in two flavors - occasional/partial and serious. HC is a serious TTriddles solver and regularly sends in a Word document with many - if not most - solutions per issue. Not all are on the mark, but most are. Here’s his solution to this TTriddle:

This week, we are told that a newborn lamb or calf cannot be offered before they are eight days old. The verse says BAYOM HASH’MINI TIT’NO LI - on the 8th day give it to me, and Rashi explains that it is not an obligation to sacrifice (cut) them on the eighth day, but rather from that day on they are eligible for an offering. Therefore, they CAN be cut on the 8th. However, there are other things that SHOULD be cut on the eighth day, e.g. the foreskin should be cut on the eighth day of a newborn boy, some animals are slaughtered on the eighth day of a leper’s purity process (and his hair!) and some offerings are brought up on the “eighth day of Succot”, a.k.a SH’MINI ATZERET.

[2] 6 (48) but not entitled yet

Again, HC: If someone killed another person unintentionally, the sedra says that Hashem will provide him a place to where he can escape. The Torah just uses the word MAKOM (place), without specifying where it is located. Rashi here explains that this “place” is the Levite camp, and we know from subsequent sedras that the LEVIYIM were allotted 48 cities in Israel. We also learn later on about the 6 cities of refuge (AREI MIKLAT), so this “non-entitled” place could be 6 (48) cities.

[3] What some called the territories, under themselves

YESH"A - meaning YEHUDA, SHOMRON, and AZA - known by the initials YUD, SHIN, and AYIN. The names of these letters sound similar to (or the same as) YAD (hand), SHEIN (tooth), and AYIN (eye), each of which is “under” itself, as in AYIN TACHAT AYIN, SHEIN TACHAT SHEIN, YAD TACHAT YAD…

[4] Sign in for Uncle Eki

Erkki Rapo (1946-2004), also known as “Uncle Eki”... was a Finnish amateur autograph collector. He dedicated the last 40 years of his life to his hobby, and is among its best-known practitioners worldwide. He is a TTriddle only because of his name RAPO as in V’RAPO Y’RAPEI.

[5] The eye anchor and the general basin

In the account of pre-Matan Torah, Matan Torah, and post-Matan Torah (depending on whose opinion you accept) at the end of Parshat Mishpatim, we find the word AGANOT, basins, into which the blood of the korbanot that the firstborns brought at Moshe’s instruc- tions was collected. OGEN, ALEF- GIMEL-NUN is a basin. OGEN, AYIN- GIMEL-NUN is an anchor. Eye (AYIN) anchor is the word OGEN spelled with an AYIN, and general (ALUF) basin is the word OGEN spelled with an ALEF.

[6] The least necessary, but we don’t differentiate

When we read from two Sifrei Torah on special occasions - Yom Tov, Shabbat-Chanuka, the Four Parshiyot, Chol HaMoed Pesach, etc. - we do so rather than roll one Torah from one reading to the other, as a gesture to avoid TIRCHA D’TZIBUR, burdening the congregation. Rather, two Torahs, each ready with its reading, are used. The least necessary readings for this would be Parshat Sh’kalim, which would need a roll of relatively few columns to go from one reading to the other. Nonetheless, because of LO P’LUG (not to differentiate among similar situations), we always use separate Torahs (unless no extra ones are available) for different readings.

On closer examination, Mishpatim- Sh’kalim (about 8 columns forward) is not the least necessary. T’ruma-Sh’kalim is closer (about 5 columns). But SH’KALIM is still the answer. And, when Rosh Chodesh Tammuz is on Shabbat Parshat Chukat or Rosh Chodesh Av is on Shabbat Parshat Matot-Mas’ei or just Mas’ei, the amount of rolling is just a bit more than Mishpatim-Shkalim.

[7] sort of like MODEH

The experience of Matan Torah is like Modeh in that the souls of the people were taken from them and then returned. Also, in the account at the end of Mishpatim, Rashi and others say that the elders acted inappropriately and deserved a death penalty. They were not killed so as not to mar the great joy and specialness of the Sinai Experience.

[8] MazalPic

Once upon a time, the Word of the Month box contained a graphic of the Zodiac symbol of the month. But a number of years ago, we decided to make the MazalPic a little (or a lot) TTriddlish (or is it TTriddly?). The Mazal of Adar is DAGIM, the Fishes, or Pisces. This month’s MazalPic is of a piece of pie with a pair of eyes. We can then say of it that this PIE SEES. H(S)M added to that the fact that our slice of pie is CHERRY pie, a similar word in spelling and sound to CHEERY PIE SEES, as in MISHENICH- NAS ADAR…

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