In the Beis HaMikdash, there was a gap between the ramp and the mizbeach. Do you know the reason behind this? The girls at the International Siyum HaMitzvos Game Show did!
On Thursday, March 12th, girls in grades 4-8 from around the globe attended the epic International Siyum HaMitzvos Game Show 5786, which included live musical performances and an official award ceremony. In addition to the usual Rapid Response game demonstrated by the girls in KHK (Kol HaTorah Kula), this year’s program also included six other fast-paced style trivia games, several of which were brand new! Dividing into two teams–Team Mishneh Torah and Team Sefer HaMitzvos–each grade’s representatives got the chance to compete on stage, steadily accumulating points until at last a final winner was announced.
Round 1
Starting off strong with “Jewpardy,” played by the youngest members of Chidon in 4th grade, each team answered questions based upon four varying levels of difficulty, the four levels being Yesod, Yediah, Havonah, and Iyun. Being that Iyun awarded the largest amount of points, the pressure steadily mounted as the girls all ambitiously chose to answer questions from that category alone. With less than a minute to respond correctly, it was a tight race, both teams eventually tying with a whopping 100 points each!
Round 2
Next up was the 5th grade, who played an all-new game of Spot It! The game’s main objective was to quickly analyze various symbols as they appeared on the screen and correctly answer the corresponding questions–according to which ones they thought they were most likely to know the answers to–in an effort to earn points. The girls’ answers came swiftly and confidently, aptly demonstrating their impressive knowledge of the 613 mitzvos. The final score was 160 to 190, with Team Mishneh Torah taking the lead!
Round 3
This was followed by a Trivia Tour from the 6th grade, inspired by TorahVR, which allows Chidon participants to step into a fully interactive 3D environment, making their Torah learning that much more tangible. For this round, each team had to answer in-depth questions centering on the Beis HaMikdash, as the big screen displayed lifelike 3D videos of the inner and outer courtyards for both the participants to closely observe and the watching crowd to admire. With only a few questions allotted to each team in turn, it was a spirited back and forth battle, the final score being 230 points for Team Sefer HaMitzvos and 260 points for Team Mishneh Torah!
Round 4
7th grade was next, playing another new game of Connections, inspired by the well-known game Codenames. With twenty-five mitzvos displayed on the screen, each team got a turn to see how many connections they could come up with among the twenty-five in just 150 seconds! [2.1]The competitive energy in the room swelled as the girls rattled off answers at a rapid pace, working together amongst themselves, and in the end, the score was settled at 280 to 310, with Team Mishneh Torah still in the lead.
Round 5
Then came the 8th grader’s turn, beginning with the beloved Chidon game known as SmartQuest. This year’s game incorporated the incredible use of technology, with tablets that transmitted the participant’s answers directly onto the screen for all to see–no spotters necessary! Both teams were asked the same open-ended question: to name as many mitzvos as they could think of in connection to a specific category. “We are about to witness human computers at work,” quipped show host Sara Blau. With only 90 seconds to write out all the mitzvos they could think of, it was a race against the clock for both teams, Team Mishneh Torah maintaining their lead by only a twenty-point difference!
Round 6
The Game Show began to draw to a close with the girls of KHK, who proudly took to the stage to play an epic round of Rapid Response. This time covering all 613 mitzvos, each team got 100 seconds to answer as many of the 30 rapid response questions as they could,[3.1] firing off answers in quick succession. The game concluded with Team Sefer HaMitzvos scoring 445 points and Team Mishneh Torah 480.
Round 7
At last, it was time for the never-before-seen Ultimate Rapid Response Showdown, bringing an end to the heart-pounding competition between both sides. This round was make it or break it, as girls from each team stepped up for a final one-on-one faceoff, Chana Cousin representing Team Mishneh Torah and Shaina Chava Heidingfeld Team Sefer HaMitzvos. Each representative was asked eight questions on the topic of the makor in the Torah. With every question worth twenty-five points, the heat was turned up for the two teams, ultimately boiling down to who could answer more questions correctly in only one minute.
While both sides did great, a final winner was ultimately declared: Mazal tov to all our contestants and to the winners of the International Siyum HaMitzvos Game Show 5786 – Team Sefer HaMitzvos!
Tune in today to see how things play out at the Boys Sefer HaMitzvos Game Show, broadcasted live at 11am EST.
