SHIV'A ASAR B'TAMUZ is Tuesday, July 11th.Fast begins at 4:16am (J'lem) and ends at 8:18pm. Adjust for other locations.Mishna Taanit 4:6 - Five [tragic] events befell our fathers on the 17th ofTamuz, (and five on the ninth of Av). On the 17th of Tamuz, the Tablets werebroken (in the aftermath of the golden calf). The daily Tamid-offering wasdiscontinued (no lambs available because of the siege), a breach was madein the city wall, and Apostumos burned the Torah, and an idol was placed inthe Beit HaMikdash [by Menashe, King of Judah (first Mikdash) - oneopinion; other opinion, by the same Apostumos (second Mikdash)].

PPexplanations on p. 52-53and at www.ttidbits.com

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Upper-left is part of one of the very firstParshaPixPuzzles of years ago. A BLOCK(sounds like BALAK) in a nest, which makesit BLOCK BEN TZIPOR • Globe wearing aneye patch. Balak said that Israel covered EINHAARETZ, the eye of the Earth • Messen-gers came to Bil'am with K'SAMIMB'YADAM, hence, the magic trick in the hand• Bil'am's donkey saw the sword drawn in theangel's hand • When the donkey talks, sheasks why he has hit her these threeREGALIM, 3 times. Commentaries point outthat it doesn't say P'AMIM, but rather usesthe word that refers to our cycle of holidaysand to the People who observe them. Thespeech-bubble for the donkey contains thequestion (mark) about the three festivals •Chicago basketball player, one of the BULLSand a St. Louis football player, one of theRAMS. Bulls and rams, 7 of each, wererepeatedly offered as sacrifices by Bil'amand Balak • Clapping hands - stands forBalak's striking his hands together in disgustat Bil'am VAYISPOK. A unique word inTanach • The Xed out snake is also fromBil'am's words, that there is no NACHASH inYaakov. His meaning is that we do not relyon omens • A "houseful of silver and gold" •Shul in the lower-left corner reminds us ofMA TOVU OHALECHA YAAKOV... • Lyingacross the bottom of the PP is the ROMACH,the spear that Pinchas used to defend G-d'shonor • River of oil from the pitcher is fromthe haftara • Reverse side of a US dollar is a

picture of the Great Seal: A pyramid with anall-seeing eye on top. Sometimes called theenlightened eye. Bil'am calls himself the manwith SH'TUM HA-AYIN. Living Torah offersthese meanings: enlightened, future-seeing,seeing, open, true-sighted, sleepless, evil,dislocated, blinded • The letter MEM beginsthe column in the Torah that starts with MATOVU OHALECHA YAAKOV... one of only 5columns (in most Sifrei Torah) that do notstart with a VAV • The lion cub is mentionedin Bil'am's description of the people of Israel- "Behold, the people will arise like a lion cuband raise itself like a lion..." (Bamidbar23:24) and "He crouched and lay down like alion, and, like a lion cub - who can stand upto him?" (24:9) • ET is for ITI, with me. Thisword occurs 52 times in Tanach and bringsto mind the extraterrestrial who wanted tophone home. Balak asks Bil'am to go withhim to another vantage point and see theIsraelite camp • The Shofar and crown gotogether and represent the pasuk, Bamidbar23:21, in which Bil'am proclaims, "He has notseen iniquity in Yaakov, nor has he seenperverseness in Yisrael; HaShem his God iswith him, and the TRUMPET BLAST OF AKING (UTRU'AT MELECH) is among them."• Below the crown on the right side isCHEF-E, as in SHEFI, from 23:3. It has themeaning of He went alone • The name of theZIM shipping company comes from ParshatBalak (Bamidbar 24:24): "V'TZIM, large shipsshall come from the ports of the Kitim, andthey will lay waste Assyria and Eber..." • Thehaftara begins with V'HAYA SHE'EIRIT (orSHE'EIRIS - hashgacha) • an ox grazing, tomatch Balak's description of his impressionof the multitude of Israel • The picture nextthe hand-clap is of R' Eliyahu KiTov. Thephrase KI TOV occurs 15 time in the Torah.

We'll focus on the combination of VAYAR(and he saw)... KI TOV, that it was good.This cuts our 15 down a bit. In the account ofCreation, we find that G-d saw... that it wasgood - six times. I guess we need to addChava to the list. With her, the word isVATEIREH, the woman (Chava) saw that thefruit of the forbidden tree was good lookingand looked delicious. The Baker in prisonwith Yosef saw that Yosef had interpretedthe Wine Stewards dream well, KI TOVPATAR. Another woman with VATEIREH,this time Yocheved, who saw that babyMoshe was good, and she hid him... Andthen it was Bil'am who saw that it was goodto bless the people of Israel... Somethingabout the use of KI TOV with Bil'am strikesas an arrogance in light of the repeated useof the term in the Creation account. Also, inYaakov's blessing to Yissachar (B'reishit 49),the Torah says VAYAR MENUCHA KI TOV..."And he saw that resting was good, and thatthe land was pleasant." Commentariesvariously explain that Yissachar was to favorstaying on its land, working it, not into traveland warfare... and was to develop acommitment to Torah learning with theirstay-at-home attitude • Towards the lower-right, above the young bird, is a $5 bill and alamb - that is, BIL-AM. The sheep is sayingsomething. Well sheep always say BAA andthis one is also saying LOCK, giving usBALAK • The fellow in the picture next toChef-E is grandson Lavi • The two guys inthe lower-right make up a single word. Thereis MOE of the Three Stooges and "the fatherof our country" making George an AV.Together - MOAV.