Winnetka Girl Upholds Tradition in Jewish Bible Studies Finals

A 12-year-old Winnetka girl tied for first place in her age group Sunday at the National Bible Contest in New York City, giving a well-versed synagogue team from West Hills its 11th national winner in nine years at the Jewish biblical competition.

“I can’t believe it,” said Hasti Sanandajifar, who tied a Cleveland girl for first in the English-language contest for boys and girls ages 11 to 13.

“I was trying for first, but I didn’t think I’d get it,” Hasti said in a telephone interview. The seventh-grader’s parents immigrated from Iran to the United States about seven years ago, she said.

San Fernando Valley youngsters from Shomrei Torah Synagogue again proved tough in the 39th annual contest run by the World Zionist Organization.

The victory comes on the heels of the national Academic Decathlon competition won last month by El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills and the second-place finish last week by North Hollywood High School in the nationwide Science Bowl.

Of five other Shomrei Torah youths competing in New York, Gabriel Schwartz, 16, finished second in the English-language category for older students, and Michele Turitz, 13, of West Hills was third in the younger group.

For Gabriel, a junior at Granada Hills High School, it was the second time he was runner-up in the national contest. He scored a close second in 1996 to April Robinson, also from Shomrei Torah. Both first- and second-place winners are normally eligible to compete in the world finals in Israel.

However, Gabriel said that because he went to Israel after the 1996 contest, officials, hoping to spread the privilege among other contestants, might not select him this year.

“If they decide not to let me go, I’ll enter the national contest one more time and hope to win, because I want to go to Israel again,” he said.

Gabriel was not the only student from the Los Angeles area to experience a near miss Sunday.

For the second consecutive year, Yoel Miller, 11, of the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles, finished second in the Hebrew-language category for students in grades six to eight at Hebrew day schools. In Yoel’s case, he and two younger brothers, who also competed this year, are enrolled in a home-study program.

Unlike the national academic team contests for secular high schools, the National Bible Contest is for individuals only. Nearly 200 youngsters competed in the U.S. finals this year.

Shomrei Torah, along with its predecessor, Beth Kodesh Congregation, has trained one or more National Bible Contest competitors yearly since 1968. All were drawn from the religious education classes taught by Cantor Avrum Schwartz, no relation to Gabriel.

The cantor, who doubles as the Bible contest coach at the Conservative synagogue, has seen his students win 11 of 18 possible first-place titles in the 1990s, including this year.

“We were very pleased,” Schwartz said.