Contestants in Israel’s annual International Bible Quiz for Youth, April 15, 2021. Photo: YouTube screenshot.

Israel held its annual International Bible Quiz for Youth on Thursday, as the country marked its 73rd Independence Day.

N12 reported that the winner was Gilad Avrahamoff, a 17-year-old yeshiva student from Netanya. Second place went to another yeshiva student, Dvir Barhad.

American-born contestant Benjamin Ram came in third, and fourth place went to Amit Algazar.

The contest was clinched with the question, “Who was the first woman to cry?” Barhad answered incorrectly — the correct answer is Hagar — thus sealing the win for Avrahamoff.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the winners, saying, “The Bible is a wonderful guide for leadership. It teaches us to reach high and far.”

“I want to congratulate the Bible Quiz winners, for you too have reached high and far,” he said.

Minister of Education Yoav Galant said, “We have no greater inspiration than the Bible. We have no deeper roots than those planted in the Bible.”

He said of all the participants in the Quiz, “All of you are an object of appreciation and admiration for us,” and praised their “true love for the Bible and especially what it represents for us, as individuals and as a people.”

The winner Avrahamoff told Israeli news site Walla, “This year’s questions were challenging and I was very nervous, I was really under pressure.”

“I recommend to anyone who wants to compete next year to start studying now,” he added, “to take advantage of all their free time to study: on the bus, on the way to classes, everywhere.”

With the COVID-19 crisis appearing to be on the wane in Israel, the Quiz was held in person this year — as opposed to last year, when it was held in a virtual format via video conference.

The Bible Quiz was established by Israel’s founding father and first prime minister David Ben-Gurion, and is co-sponsored by the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency.