Yishai Gispan of Jerusalem was crowned the International Bible Youth Champion in the annual Bible Quiz in Jerusalem this past Independence Day. Tamar Kronman from Be'er Sheva, a student in the city's Ohel Shlomo high school, finished in second place.
The Diaspora Bible Champion is Yakir Forman, a student of the Moriah School in Englewood, New Jersey, who made it to fourth place in the Jerusalem competition; a graduate of the same school, Yosef Kornbluth, finished in fifth place.
Yishai, a junior in the Yeshiva L'Tzeirim High School of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav in Jerusalem, was awarded his victory after a long and dramatic round of questions that both he and Tamar answered correctly. The two completed verse after Biblical verse, to the astonished admiration of the audience. Yishai, who had been leading by a point since the previous round, was declared the victor.
At that point, however, he approached the judges - headed by former President of Israel Yitzchak Navon - and asked to have a point or points removed, because of what he felt was a wrong answer he had given in a previous round. He had correctly answered "the King of Assyria," but provided the wrong king's name. The judges said, however, that his answer had been correct in principle, and that they would not detract points.
"I didn't exactly want to win this way," Yishai told Arutz-7. "I would have liked to win solely because of my knowledge, and not because of dry technical rules. The Bible says that the King of Assyria is Sancherib, not Shalmaneser... Afterwards it was a little awkward, with all my friends and family happy for me, and me with a 'Tisha B'Av' [sad] face. I even received text messages from my friends saying, 'Condolences on your being named the International Bible Champion' ... But afterwards, I spoke to my rabbi in Bnei Akiva, and he said I should be happy, and after all, I did win, so..."
Yishai's family members later said that he was now "OK" with the win.
Asked how his chief competitor Tamar Kronman had taken it, Yishai said, "At first she seemed to feel a little bad, but she knows that nothing was done intentionally, and in the end, we realize that there is nothing we can really do about it... so it's settled."
Yishai said he has been studying for the Bible contest on and off for the past four years.
Navon praised the knowledge and expertise displayed by the contestants. "As one who has taken part in dozens of Bible contests over the years," he said, "I can say that the level of knowledge this year is one of the highest I have seen."
Bible Contest for Adults in the Works
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the audience that, after consultations with Navon and Education Minister Yuli Tamir, he plans to advance a Cabinet decision to hold an annual Bible contest for adults as well.
Yishai and the other contestants spent the days before the contest in a camp-like campus: "It was fun meeting youths from all around the world; it doesn't happen every day. One thing I realized is that I really have to work on my English..."