On Tuesday, March 9, the Yeshiva of Central Queens had its first real Torah Bowl match of the year. Torah Bowl is a competition where several teams study two or three parshiyos with their perspective Rashis and compete against other yeshivos. For this competition, we had to study the parshiyos of Sh’lach, Korach, Chukas, and Balak. Unfortunately, because of COVID, we were unable to have the competition in person. But this didn’t stop Rabbi Wolofsky, the founder of Torah Bowl, from trying to find a way for all the yeshivos to compete.
All of the schools logged onto a Zoom hosted by Rabbi Wolofsky. Then, each student logged onto a buzzing website. Rabbi Wolofsy put up a question on the screen, and whoever knew the answer would buzz in and answer. Gabriella Badalov, a seventh grader, said, “It felt good to be back competing. Even though we did it virtually, it was really fun to get back to studying and competing against other teams!”
For this competition, we competed against Ben Porat Yosef (BPY), HALB, and HAFTR. YCQ took the lead, completing with a total of 29 points. Sarah Owadeyah, an eighth grader, said, “After studying four parshiyos along with all of their Rashis, winning the meet felt amazing! After winning the meet, I felt that all of our studying paid off. It gives us the motivation and encouragement to start learning the next set of parshiyos.” All in all, this was an amazing game, and we hope to win again next time.
By Channah Owadeyah