International Bible Contest

International Bible Contest
The International Bible Contest (Hidon HaTanakh also spelled Chidon HaTanach or Jidon Hatanaj [among Spanish and Portuguese speaking Jews]) is a worldwide competition on the Tanakh (Jewish Bible) for middle school and high school Jewish students. It is held annually in Jerusalem, on Yom Ha'atzmaut. Because the event is officially sponsored by the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency, it is attended by the Prime Minister of Israel, Minister of Education and the Chairman of the Jewish Agency.
Current format
Youth
The winner of the International Bible Contest and the first runner up, win a four-year college scholarship to any Israeli University.
The international contest is on around 400 chapters. Since Israelis usually win, there is a separate 'Diaspora Contest', for the top non-Israelis. The contestants have a 2-week program known as the Bible Camp. During the Bible Camp, contestants travel throughout Israel, meet dignitaries, tour various sites and study Tanach. An initial fifty-question written test takes place within the first few days of the program. Of the contestants that take the written test, the top sixteen overall go on to compete in the international championship, and the top scorers from the top twelve countries (other than Israel), who did not qualify for the international final go to the Diaspora Contest. The main contest is broadcast live on Israel public television and radio. Though all proceedings of the contest are in general conducted in Hebrew, translations of the questions and answers are available, so language is not a barrier to participation.
The youth format is made up of four public rounds in the International Bible Contest for youth with separate forms of questions in each:
First Round: Organizers show a video and relate it to the annual topic. They then ask each of the 16 contestants a two-part question, where each part is worth five points. The scores from this round are added to the fifty questions from the previous round and the top eight advance to the second round.
Second Round: Contestants are given a hint which typically includes a place, name or item. They then can attempt to answer or request another hint (up to two extra for a total of three). A contestant, however gets fewer points for answering after a second or third hint. Then they go onto a series of five general questions whose value in points and difficulty increase. The top four advance to the third round.
Third Round: Israel's Prime Minister asks a series of questions aloud. Contestants answer questions from this round in written format. Those with the two best scores from the second and third rounds advance, and the others receive prizes for coming in third and fourth place.
Fourth Round: Two contestants are given a series of rapid answer questions. The questions are asked in a back-and-forth manner alternating between contestants. The contestant who answers the most questions correctly, irrespective of score in prior rounds, is crowned as the winner of the International Bible Contest.
Note: For the diaspora contest the first round is identical but with twelve competitors, the second round skips the guess the book by the hint question and there are only four questions that increase in difficulty and value. The third round is identical except for the absence of the Prime Minister and the fourth round is skipped, winners are declared based on the points they have after round three.
Adults
The International Bible Contest for Adults occurs once every two years, alternately with the Israeli Bible Contest for Adults.
Winners of local competitions gather in Jerusalem, Israel, during Hanukkah.
After a written exam of 40 questions, 16 contestants (at most one per country, except for United States and Israel) appear in the public and oral quiz:
The first round consists of individual questions.
In the second round, 8 contestants are to respond to questions in a limited time.
The final round consists in questions asked by the Prime Minister, to which the final 4 contestants reply in writing.
Questions
One of the formats of the questions is completing a Bible verse.
For example:
“The king establishes the land by justice.”
“But he who receives bribes overthrows it”, (2013 contest).
“Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.”
“But happy is he who keeps the law.”, (2013 contest).
History
The international contest was founded by David Ben-Gurion. Originally, a Chidon Hatanach for adults was the main contest, and the contest for high school students was a relatively minor part. The Chidon for adults returned again in 2010.
Regional contests
Mexican contest
Participants of each school are given a list of chapters to study from October to February, when the first round takes place in the Universidad Hebraica, everyone can participate from his or her school, but after the 50 question exam, only around 16 people will survive for the next round, this one takes place a few days later, in this case, the 16 winners go to the school of the person who won the last year, where the points of the first round are not erased and where they are given a Passuk with 2 questions (8 points each), and after that a page with 10 questions (8 out of 10 worth 2 points each, and the other 2 worth 4 points), at the end the 3 people with the highest score go to Israel.
Canadian contest
Participants are given a list of chapters to study in May or June, and in the following February or March a preliminary regional test is taken. This consists of 100 multiple-choice questions for high school students (75 for grades 7 and 8, 50 for grades 5 and 6). A number of participants to continue are selected - e.g., 50. In this case, the top 50 scores will continue to the national competition. The national competition is held in April or May. It consists of 100 multiple-choice questions, followed by three rounds of short-answer questions (first a round for all participants, then a two-part top ten Semifinal round, then the top five Final round). The top 10 people are selected. Of these, first and second place will go to Israel the next year to represent Canada. If the top two are from the same region of Canada, then the highest-ranking participant from another region (i.e. Quebec, Western Canada, Ontario) will also go, provided that contestant ranked in the top ten. If there are Israelis in Canada who are participating, they are not allowed to win, but the top Israeli in the top 10 goes to Israel as the Chatan Yisrael of Canada. Thus, a total of 5 people at the most could theoretically go to Israel the next year. In reality, it is usually only 3 or 4.
United States contest
Participants are also given a set of chapters to study. There is one book of Torah, one in Early Prophets, and one in Writings. The high school division also has one book of Later Prophets. Selected chapters are chosen from each, for a total of 70-100 chapters. During December, February, and March, there are 3 regional tests. Every school, along with several other schools, are assigned a region. The student who scores the highest score in his/her region is crowned "Regional Champion". The Regional Champion along with those who score a certain cumulative percentage (e.g. 85%) on the regionals go on to the nationals. There are 3 divisions in the nationals, the Hebrew High School, Hebrew Middle School, and English Grades 6-11. The US Chidon sends 4 contestants to Israel, with the Jewish Agency paying for the contestants' plane tickets. Three spots go to the first-place winner from every division to Israel. If there is a tie for first place in any one division, then all four spots go to the four first-place winners. Otherwise, the judges calculate which division's second-place winner answered the highest percentage of correct answers on his/her written test. After tallying the scores of the written exam and video rounds, the 2nd-place winner of that division wins the final spot in Israel. The 2012 and 2013 finals were held at Yeshiva University. The 2014 and 2015 finals were held at Manhattan Day School.
The National Finals' written test is divided into two sections. First there is a test similar to the regional test, which asks questions such as "Who said this to whom", "Who is this talking about" and understanding the text. After this test, there is a second test called the cross-referencing test. Similar phrases in Tanach are given and contestants must be able to match up one side to the other. Family trees and finishing the phrases are also on this part of the test. Following the written test, contestants eat lunch while judges grade the written exams. After lunch, approximately 10 to 15 top scorers from the written exams are called to the front of the auditorium to answer several more written questions which are presented in video format. After the judges combine each contestant's written score with his/her score from the video round, the winners are announced.
In a typical year, between 350 and 400 students take the preliminary exams. Of these, approximately 185 students travel to New York to compete in the national finals.
Australian contest
In Australia, there are three competitions leading up to the International Bible Contest; the school test(top 3 go through, the state test (top 2 go through) and the federal test (top 2 in Australia go to the Israeli test). Competitors usually come from Melbourne, Victoria and Sydney, New South Wales, though in recent years participants from Perth in Western Australia have taken part. A national round consisting of the participants of each state (usually between 4-8 participants) sit a 1-hour written test and then a 2-hour public oral quiz, where participants sit on a stage and project their answers after hearing questions. Identical quizzes are sat by the participants in each state. The national syllabus usually consists of 100-150 chapters of Torah, Neviim and Later Prophets. The top three participants of the national quiz of each state are then selected to go through to the federal round, held either in Sydney or Melbourne. A further 50-70 chapters are then added to the initial national syllabus. The Federal round of the competition is identical to the National only there is more content, thus the questions are seemingly harder. The winner and the 2nd highest scorer are then given places at the International Bible Quiz camp. Only the winner's ticket is paid for by the Zionist Federation of Australia. The 2nd-place winner must pay for his or her ticket to come to the camp.
The author of the Australian Bible Quiz is the 1999 Diaspora Winner, Dr Shira Wenig.
British Contest
The British contest varies from year to year. The international final is held at LSJS in London. In some schools, the top scorers go through to the final but most schools let all teams compete. The topics are given approximately 6 months in advance, however the topics for 2014 were given to pupils at the beginning of September allowing the contestants 2 months to learn. The syllabus contains all of the Torah and some of Neviim and Ketuvim. The winning team (of 3-4) all go to Israel.
Winners
Hosts
Avshalom Kor
Venue
Jerusalem Theatre
International Convention Center
See also
Culture of Israel
References
External links
International Bible Quiz - Official Site
American Chidon HaTanach Website
Competitions
Hebrew Bible in popular culture
Religious organizations based in Israel
Youth organizations based in Israel
Annual events in Israel
Channel 1 (Israel) original programming