Eitan Amos, 18, of Toronto, is the winner of this year’s Bible Contest. He is the first Canadian to win the contest.

Amos is a student at Ohr Haim Yeshiva in Toronto. He lived in Karnei Shomron in Samaria until he was 11 and plans to attend a hesder yeshiva in Israel next year.

His deputy is Tefila Berenson of Tzvia Rehovot. In third place came Itamar Kalifa of Shaalvim Yeshiva. Tamar Jinli of Ashdod came in fourth and Niv Kotzer, also of Ashdod, placed fifth.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Shai Piron met the contestants in the Youth Contest last week. Seventy-five contestants from 33 countries took part in the meeting. Of these, 16 made it to Tuesday’s finals.

Israel’s Bible Quiz for Adults was held every three years or so from 1958 until 1981. The first contest was broadcast live on national radio. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, a known lover of the Bible who held a weekly Bible class in his home, excitedly awarded the title of National Bible Champion to Amos Hacham, who rose from humble obscurity to become a national celebrity and later co-edited the classic “Daat Mikra” Bible series.

The tradition was halted abruptly, and only renewed in 2010.

The annual International Bible Quiz for Youth, meanwhile, has continued since then until now without a break, and has even increased in popularity. Avner Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, won third place in the 2010 International Bible Contest. 

The International Bible Quiz for Youth held Tuesday in the Jerusalem Theater was brought to you live on Arutz Sheva.