An ode to the Bible Quiz, Israel’s quirky and surprisingly consequential Independence Day tradition |
We are two Australians in our 30s, and if you asked us what most shaped the way we love and understand Israel, we would both give the same slightly embarrassing answer: the Chidon HaTanach, the International Bible Quiz.
If you’ve never heard of it, that’s completely fair. The Bible Quiz is, objectively, one of the nerdiest competitions ever created. Jewish teenagers from around the world memorize vast sections of the Hebrew Bible, are tested on details so obscure that they border on the absurd, and, if they survive the rounds in their home countries, are flown to Israel to compete on a global stage against other nerdy Jewish teen Bible quizzers. At the Bible Quiz, you can be asked anything: which prophet said what to whom, how many years someone lived, at what age they died, who their children were, and what order the Jewish people travelled in the desert. We spent years learning lists, family trees and so many numbers.
The Bible Quiz final is televised live on Israeli TV each year on Yom Haatzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, and is watched by millions of people with the kind of intensity usually reserved for a major sporting match or national elections. The competition was founded by Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, which tells you something about how seriously it is taken in Israel. To compete in the Bible........