What Prophet Was Married To A Bird?

This week was filled with Torah "Trivia." Other events peppered these days, but seeking and composing questions has consumed me - in a good way. Today was the Torah Bowl compettition. Tenth grade beat ninth by one point in an impressive display of knowledge. It could have and maybe should have gone down differently. Eleventh grade beat the seniors by eight points in a commanding victory. The seniors buzzed faster but the juniors knew more answers.

One of the questions was - Who wrote the sefer Tzafnat Paneach? And the answer came back (from Zachary Rothblatt) immediately, as though it was the most basic fact! Easier, but still impressive was the quick response time between the question and answer for - Who in the Torah was renamed Tzafnat Paneach.

For this one - Name tree parshiot with titles related to seeing? - Jon Chesir buzzed in and got 2 out of three right away and then came through with the third.

We had left over questions so the four members of the Tuesday/Thursday YU Kollel played a bit. And one of them buzzed in immediately and rattled off all 5 people whose name appears in a parsha.

The same Kollel member knew right away who wrote a book named Magid Meisharim detailing what Torah he was taught by an angel that visited him regularly (hint - Do you know who wrote the Shulchan Aruch?).

After the competion a colleague came to me upset that he heard that a kid said that I said that TEIKU stands for words that mean that Eliyahu will one day answer our most difficult connundrums. I conceded that I had used the word acronym in the question although I realized that it is not only understood that way and that it's being a mnemonic is open to discussion. It amazes me how different people scoff about different things, like a mention made of something that's "taught in elementary schools." (Here's a nice post by fellow blogger HaProzdor on the meaning of teiku.)

The power of confidence fascinates me. In eliciting input (till a second ago, thanks to spellcheck, I thought the word was imput) from many fellow teachers and friends, many Qs and As were marshalled with great certaintly. Someone told me recently that Miriam was married to Nachshon, not Kalev as I'd thought. Rabbi David Goldfischer served as researcher for these questions and found that according to the Gemorah in Sota, Kalev was Miriam's husband. (Said friend told me a detailed explanation of what sources caused him to think what he thought. This reminded me of my classmate in elementary school who won our bracha bee and went on to the big inter-school one. His first question was grapefruit and he got it wrong because he "simply couldn't conceive of a fruit so large actually growing on a tree.")

One teacher was sure that only one animal/bird is listed as non-kosher. People screamed about this question, saying it wasn't so. My new adaptation of the question in question is - What bird's name reflects the fact that it does kindness for its friends?

Someone gently grumbled that it's not true. But I think it is, or at least could be, and that's good enough for me. The question was - What is the halachic problem that led to the phenomenon of Gefilte Fish. Wikipedia cites this theory and has four interesting Jewish fish links as the source). I have heard it said, and liked it, that Gefilte Fish and Cholent are the two authentic Jewish foods because they came about through a genuinely Jewish reason, ie. halacha. Most "Jewish foods" were simply borrowed from foods that were popular where Jews lived.

Someone knew this one right away - Who tried to prove that the law should go like him and not The Rabbis by eliciting a Heavenly voice which announced that he was right. Due to a technical glitch, no one got the answer to "What did the rabbis answer him." (It was asked before the previous question and made no sense out of context.)

When it was ninth against tenth none of the eight contestants knew the answer to this one: What words are used in the Torah's telling of the birth of the world and its telling of the birth of Moshe? I noticed one student who was filled with excitement because she knew and so I let her say the correct answer. Later, in the hall, she told me that she thought it was embarrassing/sad that no-one else knew.

My dear colleague (and fellow blogger), Rabbi Tzvi Pittinsky submitted this question: What was created at the beginning of time and will last tilll the end of time but can only live to be 30 days old. (This is relevant to this week's parsha, Parshat Bo).

When this question - On what years of the Shmitta cycle was Maaser Sheini brought - went up and someone answered 3 and 6 one of my colleagues shouted "Correct!" But it is incorrect. When I was in high school and had a Rebbe that wanted us to remember the years of the Shmitta cycle I came up with the mnemonic 36 to easily access what is done on those years maaser wise. Do you know what I mean?

The lower classmen had no clue who Dama Ben Netinah (or Nesinah) was. But one of the juniors got it in a heartbeat. The upperclassmen also knew right away who stood in a circle and prayed for rain and whose story may be the basis for Rip Van Winkle.

An impressive sophomore named Gavriel Fineberg said that the questions get cuter every year. I appreciate the feedback and that he means cute as compliment. Why is it that as people get older benign words like cute sometimes take on dark meanings?

Morah Racheli Weiss got very into the process and I appreciated all her ideas. One idea that didn't get used but that I liked it to match tribes and mothers. A related one was to give the reasons for the names of Yaakov's sons (have you ever heard sadder names?) This reminds me that in the first round we (I read the questions, Rabbi Josh Wald manned the Powerpoint that he made of the questions I collected and typed. Rabbi Michael Zauderer kindly and effectively did the thankless job of manning the buzzers and keeping score) asked to name something created on each day of creation (and one team slipped and the other stole) but I nixed it for the Seniors vs. Juniors round because it took long and may have interfered with the flow.

No-one in any grade knew even one of the 5 psulei shecitah. When I was in high school we learned Chulin and Rabbi Feiffer wrote out the five pesuleim and drilled them in and made us memorize them. (Bruce Osterhoudt held court in the bathroom one day about how rabbi Feiffer was a good teacher and gave his listing of the psulei shechita on the board as his proof. It seems that Rabbi Feiffer passed away in November, 2005.) ( The free associations are lining up, but I'm not letting them into this post.)

Zach R. got excited by some of the questions - in the best possible way. When we asked - Who, to our possible surprise - said, Hevei mekabel et kol ha'adam beseiver panim yaffot? - he answered with enthusiatic glee that revealed that he fully comprehended the meaning behind the question and answer. When I asked "Whose getting released from jail came about because he asked a cellmate why he looked sad?" - he got it and got it, saying that it's important to teach the lesson behind the fact. He also experienced obvious joy in answering "What parsha's name provides an acronym for a parsha related mitzvah?" And he clearly knew from learning and not just as a bit of "trivia" the answer to - What was the halachic specialty of the Tzitz Eliezer?

Someone got right away - From where do we learn that G-d is willing to have his name eased for the sake of peace? I forgot to put in the question, Where do we see G-d altering the truth for the sake of Shalom Bayit? (Unrelated Q - when you put a quote in the middle of a sentence are you supposed to capitalize it? I always welcome corrections. In class students get rewarded for pointing out something I mispelled or otherwise miswrote).

Racheli gave me the idea, based on a TV show (lehavdil), to give quotes from the middle of prayers and ask for the next words and where it's from. This one wasn't easy but someone did finally get it - kind of sort of: "Teitzei Rucho Yashuv LeAdmato."

These all found a player who knew them: What prayer song summarizes the Rambam's 13 principals of faith? Besides being commentaries and having the same first name (Ovadia) what do The Bartenura and The Seforno have in common (Zach said it like a knee jerk reaction). Who was Prince Ferdinand's advisor? (I wanted to ask - Which commenary had a vineyard, but some of my colleagues had visceral reactions because Dr. Chaim Soloveitchick says it isn't so.) Who was the doctor of the Sultan? (Reminds me of this one that got away - How many books in the Mishneh Torah?) What mitzvah is done once every 28 years? When do you recite a bracha before doing the mitzvah of saying a bracha? When in davening does 18 become 7?)

All good trivia must come to an end. I am off to other things. Feel free to comment with your answers or with other questions.

I hope that whoever you are you're having a good moment.