Israel’s government-sponsored International Bible Quiz for Youth takes place every year on Independence Day. For some time the contest’s winners have uniformly come out of the religious Zionist school system, but this year’s winner is a student at a secular school. To Gabi Avital the youngster’s victory marks the reversal of a trend in Israel during which Bible study disappeared from the mainstream, becoming the province instead of Orthodox Jews and (mainly) secular scholars:
How was the Tanakh pushed into the corner of the kippah-wearers, who are in fact the minority [in Israel]? Over the years, under the guise of science, the Bible underwent “critical readings” [and] was compared with the Code of Hammurabi and the Epic of Gilgamesh. It was broken up into shreds of documents, and its soul was drugged with the “enlightened” scientific spirit. [Professors] wrote articles, attended conferences—and yet the universities’ Bible departments grew increasingly empty.
But, lo and behold, it seems that [outside the universities] Bible study is blossoming like flowers in springtime. The young people of Israel are learning verses and passages by heart, and each Saturday people read and study the weekly Torah portion. . . .
The Tanakh is the basic element of the soul of the Jewish people. Combined, the Tanakh and the Talmud, the Mishnah, and the midrashim are a [canon] any nation would be proud to claim. . . . The moment when a secular student was lifted up on someone’s shoulders [to celebrate his victory in the Bible quiz] heralded the return of the Bible to the general public. It belongs to everyone. There can be no monopoly on the wisdom of the Tanakh or its study, provided the basic condition is maintained: the Tanakh is the essence of the Jewish spirit here in the land of Israel.
Read more on Israel Hayom: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=18961