Parshas Bo
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
[Ed. Note: This week, instead of the usual weekly Torah insight, I present to you a humorous yet educational Jewish trivia game that I created a bunch of years ago for my students called “Jew Wants to Be a Millionaire?†– based on the original popular TV quiz show – that you can play with friends and family around the Shabbos table. Enjoy! -dz]
THE “JEW WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE†TRIVIA GAME
Game Rules:
| 1. | Each contestant has 30 seconds to select a response to the multiple-choice question that he is asked and confirm his final answer. |
| 2. | A prize is won for every 3 questions answered correctly. |
| 3. | Each contestant has 3 lifelines: 1 “phone/ask a friend†lifeline, 1 “50/50†lifeline, and 1 “poll the audience†lifeline. You can use more than 1 lifeline per question. |
| 4. | The correct answers are in bold print |
General Questions:
What’s the Hebrew word for a wedding canopy?
A. Hooper-Scooper
B. Hippie
C. Chuppah
D. Kippah
What do Giraffe, Deer and Caribou have in common?
A. All are indigenous to Canada
B. All are Kosher
C. All are deaf
D. All are carnivorous
Which of the following is a symbol of Kosher certification?
A. KKK
B. IOU
C. Y2K
D. OU
According to Halachah (Jewish law), at what age does a Jewish boy become a man?
A. When he gets into Medical School
B. When his beard grows in
C. At 13 years old
D. At 8 days old
Why are Bitter Herbs eaten at the Passover Seder?
A. To remember our ancestors’ bitter enslavement
B. Tastes great
C. Because the horseradish used for Maror comes from Egypt, where the Jews were enslaved
D. Less filling
According to the Torah, which two foods must never be mixed?
A. Chocolate and peanut butter
B. Hamburger Helper and Milk of Magnesia
C. Oil and water
D. Roast beef and American cheese
Why do we blow a Shofar (ram’s horn) on Rosh Hashanah?
A. To wake up anyone who is sleeping during the services
B. To arouse us to repent before G-d
C. To celebrate the Rams’ Super Bowl win
D. To commemorate the ram’s horn that toppled the walls of Jericho
How can you tell a Jewish home from a non-Jewish home?
A. The lawn is cut on the eighth day
B. There’s no white bread in the pantry
C. All the furniture is imported and was bought wholesale
D. There is a Mezuzah on the front door
Which song do Jewish husbands traditionally sing to their wives every Friday night at the Shabbat dinner table?
A. Wild Thing
B. Eishet Chayil
C. Brahms Lullaby
D. Shalom Aleichem
According to Jewish tradition, who is the smartest Jew who ever lived?
A. King Solomon
B. Rabbi …. (insert the name of a popular rabbi in your local community)
C. Albert Einstein
D. Moses
How can you make sure that a product you buy at the local supermarket is kosher?
A. Ask a Rabbi to bless it
B. Look to see if it has a Kosher symbol
C. Check to see if it costs double the price of other brands
D. All products that have no pork in their ingredients are kosher
Which Jewish holiday comes right after Yom Kippur?
A. Rosh Hashanah
B. The Festival of Lights (Chanukah)
C. Groundhog Day
D. The Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot)
How old was our Patriarch Abraham when he was circumcised?
A. 120 years old
B. 8 days old
C. 99 years old
D. He was never circumcised
Who destroyed the First Holy Temple in Jerusalem?
A. The Romans
B. Hawaiian Commandos
C. Jabba the Hut
D. The Babylonians
In what manner did Noah bring kosher animals into the Ark?
A. In pairs
B. In apples
C. Four by four
D. Seven by seven
How does a mourner fulfill the obligation of sitting shivah?
A. By saying Kaddish for the deceased
B. By turning the AC on high until everyone in the room is “sitting†and “shiveringâ€
C. By sitting on a low chair, mourning and grieving for the deceased for 7 days
D. By donating money to the local Jewish burial society
What is the first thing a Jew traditionally does when he gets up in the morning?
A. Checks his e-mail
B. Washes his hands with a cup – 3 times on each hand
C. Says the Shema
D. Brews a cup of Espresso
Which of the following activities is permitted on Shabbat?
A. Lighting the candles
B. Sewing a wedding gown
C. Telling your friend how bad the rabbi’s sermon was
D. Walking your dog
How often does a Jewish Leap Year Occur?
A. 7 times in 19 years
B. 7 times in 49 years
C. Every 4 years
D. Never
According to Jewish tradition, where does the soul go immediately after a person dies?
A. Alabama
B. It hovers above the grave for 3 days
C. Judaism doesn’t believe in an Afterlife
D. The Garden of Eden
How many wives did King Solomon have?
A. 500 wives and 100 porcupines
B. 700 wives and 300 concubines
C. 18 wives
D. 1000 wives
Who invented Lashon HaKodesh, the Hebrew language?
A. Eliezer ben Yehudah
B. Al Gore
C. G-d Himself
D. King David
Why do we cover the mirrors in a house of mourning?
A. So as not to pray in front of a mirror
B. So that the crowds that come in won’t scratch them
C. Because they’re filthy
D. So that people should focus on the mourners and not on themselves and how they look
On which day in the Jewish calendar did the Jews have to leave Spain in 1492?
A. The Ninth of Av (Tishah B’Av)
B. Memorial Day
C. Passover
D. The Seventeenth of Tamuz
A Torah scroll may not be used even if it is only missing:
A. One paragraph
B. One word
C. One letter
D. One verse
Which of the following four people was not Jewish?
A. Daniel Bromberg – first printer of the Talmud in Venice in 1520
B. Neils Bohr – Danish physicist
C. Heinrich Heine – German poet
D. Mary McCarthy – author of Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
The author of the classic philosophical work Guide to the Perplexed is:
A. Maimonides
B. Donald Trump
C. Nachmanides
D. Sigmund Freud
The Hebrew words for “Holy Temple†are:
A. Beit HaKnesset
B. Beit Hamikdash
C. Beta Carotene
D. Kotel HaMa’aravi
What is the origin of the Havdallah service that we perform at the close of Shabbat?
A. It is named for Sultan Abdallah III, the Ottoman emperor who first allowed the Jews in the Holy Land to publicly mark the end of the Sabbath.
B. It takes its name from the half-dollar that Jews used to donate to charity after the Shabbat.
C. In Exodus 42:19 it states, “Thou shalt surely make Havdallah for all generations, selahâ€.
D. Havdallah means separation and comes from the Biblical imperative to make a separation between the holy and the mundane.
Who was the mother of Moses?
A. Rebeccah
B. Mary
C. Miriam
D. Yocheved
Why do Jews eat Cholent on Shabbat morning?
A. It’s rich in calcium and zinc and is high in fiber.
B. It’s the only food that can stay on the fire the whole night and not burn.
C. By eating hot foods on Shabbat morning, we protest the Saducees who interpreted the Torah to mean that one can’t have fires lit on Shabbat.
D. It is one of the 614 Commandments.
Exactly what does the Hebrew word Kabballah mean?
A. “Received†wisdom
B. Jewish Mysticism
C. Voodoo, or Hocus-Pocus
D. Ancient Wisdom from the Sages of Kabul
Why do we throw candies at the groom at his aliyah in shul on the Shabbat before his wedding?
A. Because the Rabbis said so
B. To wish him a sweet life with his bride
C. To prepare him for all the things that his wife will throw at him
D. Just to make otherwise boring services more fun and exciting
Purim Edition:
What was the name of the villain in the Purim story?
A. Herman
B. Ham & Eggs
C. Haman
D. Hummer
Chanukah Edition:
What is the best fuel to use for lighting the Menorah?
A. Budweiser
B. Wax Candles
C. Olive oil
D. Diesel
What was the name of the villain in the Chanukah story?
A. Antiochus
B. Aunt Jemima
C. Alexander the Great
D. Zeus
What does the word Maccabee stand for?
A. It means “make fun of a waspâ€
B. It is an acronym for the Hebrew words Mi Kamocha B’eilim Hashem, which the Maccabees engraved on their shields
C. It was an ancient Jewish sports team
D. It means “hammerâ€
In what year did the miracle of Chanukah occur?
A. 1500 BCE
B. The Dark Ages
C. 165 BCE
D. During J.C.’s lifetime
Why do we eat latkes on Chanukah?
A. That’s what our ancestors ate when they left Greece
B. Tastes great
C. Less filling
D. To remember the miracle of the oil
Why do kids play dreidel (spinning top) on Chanukah?
A. Because Jewish children hid their Torah books from the Greeks and played dreidel instead
B. There’s nothing else to do
C. Because a great miracle happened there
D. To signify that we beat the wicked Antiochus and came out on “topâ€
Why were the Greeks so against the Jews that they tried to destroy us?
A. Because we took their land
B. Because the Torah we study threatens Greek science and philosophy
C. Because we won all the gold at their Olympics
D. Because we never gave our kids names like Stefanopolous
From where does the custom of giving Chanukah presents originate?
A. Toys’R’Us Corporation
B. It symbolizes the “gift†of light that G-d gave the Jews during the Chanukah miracle.
C. We give our kids gifts on Chanukah so that they won’t feel jealous of the x-mas presents all the non-Jewish kids are getting
D. The verse in the Book of Maccabee 2:13 which states, “Thus sayeth the Lord: Thou shalt surely give gifts to thy children for each night of the holidayâ€
What does the word Chanukah literally mean?
A. Education or dedication
B. Festival of oily foods
C. Menorah
D. “The Jews wonâ€
What miracle occurred when the Maccabees beat the Greeks and entered the Temple?
A. Judah Maccabee walked across the water (oh, wrong religion!)
B. The oil that should have only lasted for one day burned for eight days
C. They found a cruse of oil
D. They found Tom Cruise
What is the theme of the traditional Chanukah song Maoz Tzur?
A. It’s a song about Jews and food
B. It’s a song of love
C. It’s a song about the Jewish People’s exiles and future redemption
D. The words don’t really mean anything
If there are 3 boys in the family, how many candles are lit on the 5th night?
A. 312
B. 38
C. 24
D. None of the above.
What do the letters nun, gimmel, hay, shin on the dreidel represent?
A. Ner Chanukah, Gelt, Hallel, Shemen
B. The four letter Name of G-d
C. “Normal Guys Hate Shoppingâ€
D. Nes Gadol Hayah Sham ("A great miracle happened there")
Shavuot Edition:
To whom exactly did G-d give the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai?
A. The highest bidder
B. Moses
C. The entire Jewish Nation
D. Charlton Heston
Why do Jews stay up all night studying Torah on Shavuot night?
A. Too much coffee
B. To show our eagerness to accept the Torah, unlike our ancestors who were sleeping when G-d came to give them the Torah
C. Because G-d commanded all the Jewish men to stay away from their wives before the Giving of the Torah
D. In order to pray in the morning at the earliest possible time
Which group did G-d give the Torah to first?
A. The women
B. The children
C. UJA/Federation
D. The men
How many commandments are there in the Torah?
A. 5780
B. 248
C. 606
D. 613
Which of the following is not a book of the Jewish Scriptures?
A. Deuteronomy
B. Amos
C. Matthew
D. Ecclesiastes
What shape were the two tablets of the Ten Commandments?
A. Squares
B. Rectangles with rounded tops
C. Parallelograms
D. Caplets
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=601