Date and Location announced for 2014 US Chidon National Finals

The National Finals in both languages will take place from approximately 9AM to 3PM on Sunday, May 11, 2014, at Manhattan Day School in New York and will cover the entire syllabus – including those chapters in Bereishit (Genesis) and Shoftim (Judges) that were not on the Regional Exams.

Media Coverage of 2013 US National Chidon

I will be posting links here for news reports of the 2013 US National Chidon:

1) The Jewish Standard’s article about winners from New Jersey
2) Jewish Voice and Opinion article about winners from New Jersey
3) Article from the Minnetonka Sun Sailor about English Middle School Champion Lincoln Bernhard.
4) Article from Bergen County Jewish Link about Tehila Kornwasser’s bat mitzvah project
5) YouTube video of 3rd Place Hebrew Middle School Champion Miriam Waghalter reflecting on her Chidon experience.

Chidon Finals Video Collage

You can view a musical slideshow of photos from this year’s Chidon in the

Chidon Finals 2013 Video Collage.

Thank you to Tamar Novick of Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future for taking the photos.

2013 National Finals Take Place on May 5th

The Jewish Agency hosted the 54th annual US National Bible Contest this past Sunday at Yeshiva University in New York. The contest included 112 participants from throughout the United States in grades 6-11 who were selected from 240 students who took preliminary exams in their schools. All 112 participants received a free copy of Mitokh Ha’Ohel: Essays on the Weekly Parashah from the Rabbis and Professors of Yeshiva University

During the program, students were addressed by Rabbi David Horwitz, Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva U., Mr. Arthur Sandman, Executive Vice President of the Jewish Agency, and Rabbi Neil Winkler of the Moriah School in Englewood.

Students competed in 4 Divisions – English Middle School, English High School, Hebrew Middle School, and Hebrew High School.

The top performers were as follows:

Hebrew High School

1. Asher Finkelstein YU High School for Boys

2. Dani Peyser Torah Academy of Bergen County (NJ)

3. Elisheva Friedman Reenas Bais Yaakov (NJ)

4. Benjamin Kepecs SAR High School (NY)

Hebrew Middle School

1. Asher Brenner YBH Hillel of Passaic, NJ Age: 13

2. Shira Orlian Yeshiva of Spring Valley – Bais Sara (Monsey, NY)

3. Miriam Waghalter Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy (LA)

4. Nechama Novick YBH Hillel

5. Tehila Kornwasser Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey

English High School

1. Yael Goldschlag Montgomery Blair H.S. (Silver Spring, MD) Age: 14

2. Sarah Goodman Park Synagogue (Cleveland)

English Middle School

1. Lincoln Bernhard Minnetonka MS,, MN Age 14, Hometown: St. Louis Park, MN

2. Jacob Levine B’nai Jeshurun (Cleveland)

A photo of the first place winners is attached. The four of them will represent the US in the 2014 International Bible Quiz on Israeli Independence Day in Jerusalem.

A copy of the video questions that were asked in the final round appear below in a separate post.

Several Photos appear below. More photos appear under the Photos – תמונות Tab of our website.

The 4 first place winners – (from left) Asher Brenner, Lincoln Bernhard, Asher Finklestein, and Yael Goldschlag

Video Questions from 2013

Question #1
and
Question #2
from the video finals are both available online.

US National Chidon Finals to be streamed in amateur webcast

The US National Chidon Finals will be streamed online or the first time this year, at our Ustream channel.

This webcast is being done as an experiment, so that we can gauge interest and decide whether to enhance coverage in future years. For this year, the webcast will be done in a very plain manner, with video resolution of comparable quality to the sample video currently on the site.

The stream will begin around 1:15 PM EDT, when the closing assembly begins.

Americans Dazzle at International Bible Contest

3 Americans qualified for the televised round of the International Bible Contest today, Israeli Independence Day – Joshua Silvera, Shalhevet Schwartz, and Yishai Eisenberg.

Shalhevet tied for 4th in the world, and Yishai tied for 1st in the world. Here are several media links about the event:
1) IBA website, where the full video is archived. THE COMPLETE VIDEO IS NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE, AS WELL
2) Arutz 7 website – includes news brief and video of final face-off and awarding of prizes.
3) Hebrew article from Megafon News.
4) Hebrew news story from Yediot Acharonot, and story in English translation
4) Hebrew Interviews with the first-place winners at Mako News
5) Hebrew article from the website Walla
6) English report from New York’s JM in the AM radio show (visit the archive from April 16, 2013 at about 1:00, they have Hebrew Israeli news that mentions the Chidon. Starting at 1:14, they have English discussion of the Chidon)
7) Hebrew story from Maariv and English translation
8) English article from the Israel Hayom newspaper
9) English article from Baltimore Jewish Life
9) English article from Times for Israel
10) English article from The Jewish Press
11) English article by our parent organization, the Jewish Agency for Israel
12) English article from the Forward
13) English article from Jerusalem Post
14) Amazing personal story of the Israeli who tied Yishai, from the Times of Israel
15) Yeshiva University articles by the university and its affiliated high school, which Yishai attends.
16) Article about Yishai from the Jewish Voice
17) Article about Yishai and the event from the NJ Jewish Standard