Weekly Quiz - Pre 2019 

Happy New Year

What are Israelis celebrating on Yom Sylvester?

AThey are celebrating the birthday of Pope Sylvester I, who was the first Pope to visit the Holy Land.

BWhile Israelis of British descent celebrate Boxing Day on the day after Christmas, Yom Sylvester is the equivalent celebrated by Israelis of Italian descent.

CSecular New Year's Eve. The name was "imported" from Germany, where Sylvester Day commemorates Saint Sylvester, who died on December 31.

DThis holiday is in memory of Sylvester Goldshtein, who was the first speaker of the Israeli Knesset. He died on January 1, 1956.

EThis 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).

Click here for the answer.

Christmas at 770

What happens on Christmas Eve at the Chabad Lubavitch headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights?

ATorahs and Talmuds are put away, and the men spend the night playing chess.

BThe rabbis hang their streimels on the mantel, hoping to find a nice surprise inside in the morning.

CThe rabbis daven Maariv (just like on every other Eve).

DThe 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.

EChinese food and movie night.

Click here for the answer.

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?

AHe wrote a letter in support of the Balfour Declaration, calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.

BHe convinced Abdullah I of Transjordan to lower the tolls on the Allenby Bridge.

CHe 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.

DBecause 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.

EHe 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.

Click here for the answer.

Mandela

Nelson Mandela was a sponsor of what charitable organization that was started by South African chief rabbi Cyril Harris?

AUJA (United Johannesburg Appeal), which raises money to fund local social service organizations.

BKosher Heifer International, which provides cows to poor South African Jews for kosher milk and meat production.

CAfrika Tikkun, dedicated to supporting and empowering young South Africans.

DTzedakAfrika, an organization which provides funding for schools for South African children living in the former apartheid "Bantustan" territories.

EAmerican 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.

Click here for the answer.

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.

BEating 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.

CEating walnuts, which are opened by hitting them with a hammer, in honor of Judah Maccabee, whose name means Judah the Hammer.

DWatching episodes of Taxi which feature Andy Kaufman.

EEating Italian food, because the oil which miraculously lasted 8 days was olive oil.

Click here for the answer.

© 2023 MMJZ Services, Inc.