Weekly Quiz - Pre 2019
Happy New Year
What are Israelis celebrating on Yom Sylvester?
A. They are celebrating the birthday of Pope Sylvester I, who was the first Pope to visit the Holy Land.
B. While Israelis of British descent celebrate Boxing Day on the day after Christmas, Yom Sylvester is the equivalent celebrated by Israelis of Italian descent.
C. Secular New Year's Eve. The name was "imported" from Germany, where Sylvester Day commemorates Saint Sylvester, who died on December 31.
D. This holiday is in memory of Sylvester Goldshtein, who was the first speaker of the Israeli Knesset. He died on January 1, 1956.
E. This is the New Year for cats. Israelis also celebrate Yom Pluto, the New Year for dogs, Yom Flicka, the New Year for horses, and Yom Ben, the New Year for rats (The Knesset banned Yom Porky celebrations).
Christmas at 770
What happens on Christmas Eve at the Chabad Lubavitch headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights?
A. Torahs and Talmuds are put away, and the men spend the night playing chess.
B. The rabbis hang their streimels on the mantel, hoping to find a nice surprise inside in the morning.
C. The rabbis daven Maariv (just like on every other Eve).
D. The building is empty, because all of the rabbis volunteer to work at the local hospitals so that non-Jewish employees can spend the evening with their families.
E. Chinese food and movie night.
Lawrence of Arabia (R.I.P., Peter O’Toole)
Lawrence of Arabia helped to arrange what agreement that benefited the Jews of Palestine in 1918?
A. He wrote a letter in support of the Balfour Declaration, calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
B. He convinced Abdullah I of Transjordan to lower the tolls on the Allenby Bridge.
C. He convinced British authorities who governed Egypt to allow Solomon Schechter to bring ancient artifacts found in the Cairo Genizah to Palestine for study and display by Jewish scholars.
D. Because a plague of dever (pestilence) destroyed the cow population in the Middle East, he established a kosher camel farm in Cairo to supply meat to the Jewish communities in Palestine.
E. He served as a go-between and interpreter at a meeting between Emir Feisal (who represented the Arab world at the Post World War I Paris Peace Conference) and Chaim Weizmann, calling for peaceful coexistence in Palestine.
Mandela
Nelson Mandela was a sponsor of what charitable organization that was started by South African chief rabbi Cyril Harris?
A. UJA (United Johannesburg Appeal), which raises money to fund local social service organizations.
B. Kosher Heifer International, which provides cows to poor South African Jews for kosher milk and meat production.
C. Afrika Tikkun, dedicated to supporting and empowering young South Africans.
D. TzedakAfrika, an organization which provides funding for schools for South African children living in the former apartheid "Bantustan" territories.
E. American Friends of Israeli Friends of South African Friends in Need of the Support of Friends, a support group of a support group of a support group helping and supporting South Africans in need of help and support. From friends.
Happy Chanukkah
Which of the following is a minor custom on Chanukkah?
A. Drinking until you don't know the difference between Antiochus and Judah Maccabee, because Judith saved the Jews of Bethulia in Judea by plying the Assyrian general Holofernes with cheese and wine, after which he passed out and she beheaded him.
B. Eating dairy food, because Judith saved the Jews of Bethulia in Judea by plying the Assyrian general Holofernes with cheese and wine, after which he passed out and she beheaded him.
C. Eating walnuts, which are opened by hitting them with a hammer, in honor of Judah Maccabee, whose name means Judah the Hammer.
D. Watching episodes of Taxi which feature Andy Kaufman.
E. Eating Italian food, because the oil which miraculously lasted 8 days was olive oil.