July 27: Israel’s Bible Quiz

The adult version of Israel’s Tanakh (Bible) Quiz was revived in Jerusalem after a 29-year hiatus on this date in 2010. The first Tanakh Quiz had been presided over by David Ben-Gurion and broadcast on national radio on Israel’s tenth anniversary in 1958. The quiz was then held about every three years until 1981. A similar contest for high school students has run continuously, concluding on Israel Independence Day, with 12,000 young Jews participating from more than 30 countries. (The 2010 Israeli national contest was won by Avner Netanyahu, the 15-year-old son of the Israeli prime minister, while the international competition was won by Or Ashual, a 17-year-old Israeli who was also the only girl to participate in the national contest.) The winner of the revived adult contest, in the final competition on Khanike, 2010 — from among 2,000 participants and fourteen finalists — was Private Refael Meyuchas, 24, from Netanya. One Bedouin from southern Israel, Shadi Abu-Ar’ar, participated, commenting: “I feel that I know now why the Jewish people are so strong. It is because they study the Bible.” “We have lawyers, judges, mechanics, chemists, teachers and people from almost every profession.” —Shlomo Ventura, Education Ministry