AN ILAN STUDENT’S CHIDON HATANACH JOURNEY
The announcement rang out, ”In first place, from Ilan High School, Penina Crystal!” The crowd erupted as Ilan’s very own Penina Crystal was crowned Tanach Queen, taking home first place at this year’s Chidon Hatanach Competition.
The Chidon is an international program that was originally founded by David Ben Gurion in 1958, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. After independently studying, (sleeping, eating and almost breathing Tanach for months on end) boys and girls are tested on various Biblical stories in several different books of Tanach, including Sefer Shemot, Melachim II, Trei Asar and Megillat Esther. Over 80 schools nationwide, including community schools Yeshivah of Flatbush, Ramaz and Yeshivat Frisch among others, offered their students the opportunity to take the three tests that are administered over the course of the year, with the top scorers of these tests continuing on to compete in the Chidon Nationals in New York this April.
Persistent, passionate, and proficient are all adjectives that aptly describe Penina Crystal, sophomore at Ilan and a native of Highland Park, New Jersey. From a young age, she developed a taste for Tanach and later displayed a penchant for Tanach studies. Her family has always displayed a love of Tanach studies and Penina attributes much of this to her grandfather, Dr. Richard C. Steiner. A professor at Yeshiva University, Steiner has written prolifically on topics in Tanach, specifically about how events in Tanach have historical authenticity. Growing up, family get-togethers were always sprinkled with Tanach challenges, where her grandfather would award prizes to the grandchild who solved a Tanach riddle or identified an elusive phrase in Torah. Her parents, too, fostered their family’s fluency in Tanach, and encouraged their children to study the weekly Torah portion with Rashi’s commentary. Many members of her extended family are Tanach scholars, and the younger generation is following suit.
As a freshman and newbie to the Chidon, Penina began her journey by “getting her feet wet,” so to speak. Though she had uncles who had competed in the Chidon as well as a cousin in middle school who had registered for the tournament, she didn’t have much experience as to what to expect on tests, and in general, took a more laid back approach to her studying. She studied prior to each test, covering the necessary material, but did not have a set schedule of studying or an organized way to ensure that her goals would be met. So though she had spent countless hours poring over the texts, she — and her family — were more than pleasantly surprised when she qualified for the Nationals, and ultimately took home the third place award last May.
With her eyes on the prize, this year, Penina upped her game. Seeing her dedication towards her journey and her desire to achieve even greater success, Ilan High School supported her quest and hired Rabbi Ezra Frazer to coach Penina in her Tanach studies. Rabbi Frazer is both a Chidon coach and former competitor who, like Penina, won the US Chidon as a 10th grader and went to Israel for the International Chidon in 11th grade. He eventually went on to coordinate the US Chidon from 2009-2016.
Interestingly enough, when Rabbi Frazer was a student in YU, he studied Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic under Penina’s grandfather, Dr. Steiner. Though he initially planned on concluding his schooling after completing his MA, it was Dr. Steiner who encouraged him to follow his dream and pursue his PhD. When approached by Ilan, Frazer felt that the time was right for him to reciprocate and enable Penina to pursue her dream as well. Beginning last summer, she began to study the syllabus in earnest. Determined and disciplined, she utilized every day, but mostly Shabbat and holidays, to cover the necessary ground to accomplish the goals she had set for herself.
Rabbi Frazer asserted that, “Penina was incredibly motivated, and her consistent hard work was the primary reason that she won. I worked with her on developing a study schedule. We would meet every two weeks for me to check her progress, but she routinely mastered a couple of extra chapters above and beyond what I’d assigned her.” Penina admits that it was much easier this time around as she had more experience with the Chidon format, as well as the importance of studying everything, even the seemingly irrelevant details, as one never knows exactly what obscure Passuk can come up on the test.
After preparing so well, she sat confidently through each test, circling the correct answers with the confidence of someone who knows her stuff. On her first two tests, Penina scored a perfect 30/30. Incredibly enough, when her score was less than perfect on the third and final test, she respectfully suggested that it was the answer key that contained an error, not her response, and she was right! It was no surprise then that Ilan’s faculty advisor received an email from Rabbi Dovi Nadel, coordinator of the American Chidon HaTanach, noting that “Penina had the highest score in the entire country. She was the only perfect score this year!”
And then it is game time, where Penina’s encyclopedic knowledge coupled with a deep-seated love for Torah, would catapult her to stardom. The day was intense, but she remained poised and positive. Buoyed by the encouragement of family and friends supporting her in person and virtually, Penina kept at it and then, we breathed a sigh of relief as her name was called out as one of the seven national finalists in her division. After a nail-biting final test, the dust settled, and the award announcements were made. Bottom up, from seventh place to first, we sat at the edge of our seats, until only one name remained uncalled. “You know what that means,” thundered Rabbi Nadel, “In first place, from Ilan High School, Penina Crystal.” We had our winner! Amidst deafening applause, Penina, smiling from ear to ear, almost floated to the podium to accept her award, her goal accomplished!
More amazing than her results, though, was Penina’s attitude on her journey from tests to trophy. Refined and unassuming, Penina earned the respect of her teachers and peers alike, and she is so grateful for Ilan’s support throughout. Penina’s takeaway is signature Ilan. She says, “Study hard, work hard and play hard, and whether you win or lose, know that everything that you’ve learned will stay with you forever.” And indeed, it is this motto that has pushed our girls this year to be champions across the spectrum of competitions; from Basketball Champions to bringing home awards for Torah Bowl, Rikudiah and an as yet undefeated softball season, our girls work hard to play hard and with Ilan always rooting for them, they continue to make us proud!
