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Tuesday January 7, 1997

Kids surf Net, peruse texts for Jerusalem 3000 quiz

MICHELE CHABIN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

JERUSALEM -- Who divided the Old City of Jerusalem into four distinct quarters, and why? Which Jerusalem street is named after a British monarch?

According to the latest Israeli census, how many Jews, Muslims and Christians reside in the nation's capital?

Those who do not have this information at their fingertips -- sorry, referring to reference materials is not permitted -- were obviously not among the thousands of Jewish teenagers, in Israel and abroad, who spent the past 18 months cramming for the Jerusalem 3000 International Quiz.

The quiz was sponsored by the Joint Authority for Jewish Zionist Education of the Jewish Agency for Israel and World Zionist Organization, the Jewish National Fund and the Jerusalem Municipality.

The contest came at the end of 18 months of activities and festivities marking Jerusalem's 3,000th anniversary.

Ninety of the finalists, who proved their knowledge of Jerusalem's history and culture in qualifying rounds around the world, were in Israel this week to compete in the competition.

Although Atara Hoffman, 15, of Jerusalem, won, the rest agreed that winning a trip to Jerusalem was reward enough.

To prepare the teens for the quiz, Israeli educators created a series of reference materials and distributed them, in translation, to Jewish schools, youth groups and synagogues in more than 30 countries.

In many cases, the 13- to 18-year-olds decided to carry out additional research, consulting everything from ancient Jewish texts to Jewish sites on the Internet.

Many of the participants said meeting Jewish kids from countries as diverse as Peru, India, Portugal and New Zealand was fun and inspiring.

"We share the same thing, sing the same songs, pray the same way, even though we're from totally different countries," said Selin Saylag, a 16-year-old from Turkey.

"It's made me proud to realize that wherever they are, Jews are maintaining their Jewish identity."

Georgia Stone, 14, of New Zealand agreed.

"Our common denominator is that everyone here can discuss Jewish history."

It was the third trip to Israel for Yehuda Hausman, 14, of Los Angeles.

"The things I've learned about Jerusalem have enhanced the pleasure of visiting the sites," Hausman said.

"You walk around the Old City walls and know who built them. You walk through the four quarters and you know their history. It's a really exciting way to learn history."

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