Tzipora, who also happens to be the first female winner in seven years, won two return flights to Israel.
Five of the 10 finalists at the finale at at King David Linksfield (KDL) on Sunday September 17 were from KDVP. The school’s five finalists were Tzipora, Warrick Hirson, Jonah Kollenberg, Raizel Lampert, and Gaby Nossel.
Yeshiva College’s Matan Kaplan, Jacob Sacks and Saul Joseph represented their school with pride, as did Torah Academy’s Shoshana Cohen and Yakira Shalpid.
Israel Centre shaliach, Aviad Sela, told the finalists that Israel needs champions and they were the “new champions of Israel,”, whether they came first or tenth. “We as a community are proud of you.” Of the community, Sela said: “I am fascinated each and every day the love for Israel here, 7 000 km away from Israel and at the huge bond that links us.” This, he said, was the “strength of our people”.
Israeli Ambassador Lior Keinan, paid tribute to late President Shimon Peres, who had died a year and a day before the Quiz finals. He quoted Peres as saying: “Israel is a dream that came true.” The ambassador told how when Peres was confronted by anti-Israeli hecklers once, he told them: “We do not need your permission to stay alive.” Another of Peres’ oft-quoted words of wisdom, he said, was: “I am free to be free.”
The ambassador, who had spent time with Peres, also shared the fact that this man, one of the founding fathers of Israel, had told him: “My greatest mistake is that my dreams were all too small.” Keinan and his daughter then lit a memorial candle to Peres at the quiz.
The Israel Quiz was started by the South African Zionist Federation in 2004. The Quiz is open to all pupils in Jewish day schools in South Africa.
The purpose of the Quiz is to give pupils the opportunity of broadening their knowledge of the history of the State of Israel and current Israeli affairs.
