Photo Credit Maxine Lipshitz
On Tuesday, December 8, Yeshiva of Central Queens had their first Torah Bowl meet of the year. The Torah Bowl is an educational tournament started more than a decade ago by Rabbi Mair Wolofsky, former principal of the Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett, for students in yeshivos and Orthodox day schools. It is a competition where several yeshivos spend time learning and studying two or three parshiyos with their perspective Rashis with their coaches. They then compete against other yeshivos in tournaments throughout the year
However, this meet was different from all others. Rabbi Wolofsky, the founder of Torah Bowl, has been battling COVID-19 and is on a ventilator. Usually he writes the questions given to the students during the competitions. This year, he was unable to write the questions for the first game of the year. This didn’t stop the amazing coaches who stepped in to prepare us. The first event of the year was held in the z’chus of Rabbi Wolofsky.
All the yeshivos participating in Torah Bowl were given a few p’rakim and their perspective Rashis of the parshiyos of BaMidbar, Naso, and B’Haaloscha to learn and compete on. Ms. Rosenblum, the YCQ girls’ Torah Bowl coach, took all the questions and made a large Kahoot game out of them. On Tuesday at the meet, about 14 schools joined a Zoom meeting to engage in playing the Kahoot game. Elmira Kohen, YCQ eight grader, said, “The main reason I like playing against other schools is because I realize that all the hard work and studying that I did has paid off.” Gabriella Badalov, a sixth grader, said, “Even though we could not have an actual meet this year, studying and learning Torah for the r’fuah sh’leimah of Rabbi Wolofsky meant a lot.” This was an unbelievable and incredible experience for all the student participants as well as the coaches.
By Channah Owadeyah