The Beit Shemesh, Mateh Yehuda and South African communities joint Bible Quiz was held in September for the second time, and was sponsored by the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000.
The quiz was preceded by preliminary tests and four youngsters from the region represented us with honor: Havi Rutner, Esther Schizgel, Elyashiv Helfer along with four South African youngsters: Chani Kazilsky, Hilah Netzer and Soshe Lewin and Adina Taubi, (Co-winner) and quiz co- winner Aviad Goldman (16) from Beit Shemesh recounted his experience in somewhat biblical fashion:
"It was on that day that we traveled to "little" Moshav Naham, to the offices of "the giant" Partnership for the preliminary stages of the Bible Quiz.
"I came across the Partnership 2000 Bible Quiz because of the great resonance produced by the quiz last year, and also through a notice on the wall of the yeshiva. Then we set off for the first round. It was very easy, as was the second round.
"And Nava said to me in an e-mail: 'Go forward to the Ramat Beit Shemesh Community Center, to the pre-final stage, which is worth 50 precious points, so I went. There we met the presenter Neria Pinhas and the contestants from South Africa who came to Israel, their holy land, the land of the Bible.
"With God's help we hope that they, and all their brethren, will come to Israel, their country, and they will show the entire world that the land of the Bible for youth is here.
"The pre-final stage, as we said, was worth 50 points. There were some tough questions but we got past Pharaoh and we got past this too, and we reached the sought after final on the Thursday.
"The final was very impressive. We sat on the stage, all the contestants next to each other, loudspeakers in front of us, honorable judges opposite us, and the noisy and excited audience to the side. Behind us contemporary movies about the Bible were shown on a screen, after which we were asked questions about all manner of things - about the vineyard and the granary, the Book of Samuel and the Book of Kings (and in Genesis, Joshua, Judges, Ezra and Nehemiah).
"Addresses were given by Mr. Shalom Lerner, Mickry Blumberg, Gideon Vennor and Neria Pinhas, and we began the quiz after a round of questions accompanied by short funny films. Neria asked the audiences a lot of questions, most of which they answered correctly.
"The second round was the computer round. The standard of the questions went up, but the sporting spirit characteristic of Bible students encouraged us and we courageously passed the second round.
"The final was very tough. We fought with a slingshot and a stone, and racked our brains over the questions which Neria brought straight from the World Bible Quiz…
"After the quiz we went on a trip in the footsteps of the battle between David and Goliath, between Azeka and Shukha. The trip was very interesting and enjoyable. The quiz was superb!
"I greatly enjoyed the studying and, of course, the great production and investment in the quiz. The contestants were excellent, especially the girls from South Africa!
The questions in the final were very good. I think that anyone who loves the Bible would have learned from, or have been impressed with them, and they undoubtedly pave the way to the summit of the World Bible Quiz.
"Take courage all students of the Bible. Praise the Lord!"
A special thanks to Miriam Risler for volunteering to translate & Rina Hollander, who accompanied the project.