* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
"For the first time in Israel: Chidon HaTanach for students with special needs. With hearts full of wonder and gratitude, we invite you to join us at this one-of-a-kind event.”
This was the invitation for an event that I had the privilege of hosting.
The contest took place last Thursday on Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov. For 18 years, the kibbutz has been running a program called the “Life-Skills Seminar” that was established by Yardena Amsalem for her son Eran who has special needs and other people with disabilities.
A year ago, Yardena decided to hold a bible contest for this population for the first time. There was great excitement surrounding this initiative. Many centers of AKIM Israel (the national organization for people with intellectual disabilities and their families), schools for students with disabilities, and other therapeutic settings joined the effort and prepared extensively for this contest. And, finally, the anticipated day had arrived.
Each institute sent their own team of representatives. The event opened with greetings from the panel of esteemed judges. I soon discovered that the questions would not be easy at all.
In my opening remarks, I told the contestants that they although they are referred to as people with disabilities, when it comes to our souls and our connection to God and Torah—there are no limitations. It is a deep connection beyond any physical limitations.
And it didn’t take long for the contestants to prove it. The quiz focused on the Book of Bereisheet, and their mastery of the details was remarkable: they demonstrated a vast knowledge of dates, years, facts, and even about the meaning and significance of the biblical stories.
The most impressive contestant was Bat El Maimon from Kibbutz Mizra. Although she struggled to find the words to express herself, she kept trying to answer as many questions as possible. So, for example, when I asked about the meaning of our patriarch Yaakov’s name change to Yisrael, she explained that it indicated our ability to cope with challenges, which was an especially significant response in this setting.
The contest had no winner. At the end of the event, all the participants received the same certificate, and two of them went up to sing the song, “Kanfei Ruach.”
Rav Kook, who composed the words to this song, was known for traveling to the kibbutzim and moshavim in northern Israel to reach out to people estranged from Judaism. And now, about 100 years later, these same kibbutzim hosted this special bible contest with participants hailing from Ashdot Yaakov and Mizra, many of whom sang this song with Rav Kook’s own words: “Ascend to the heights, ascend! You have wings of spirit"...
