JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s International Bible Contest winner dedicated his prize to friends killed in last year’s attack on a Jerusalem yeshiva.
Sapir Malka, 15, of the West Bank settlement of Kokhav Yaakov, attends the Yeshivat Yerushalayim L’Tzeirim High School in Jerusalem, which is affiliated with the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva. Five Yerushalayim L’Tzeirim students studying at Mercaz HaRav were among the eight victims killed in the March 2008 massacre there.
Malka on Wednesday also handed Benjamin Netanyahu a personal letter when presented with the contest’s prize, urging the prime minister to help jailed spy Jonathan Pollard.
The Bible competition is held annually on Israeli Independence Day, or Yom Ha’atzmaut. This year’s event was the 46th.
The participants included young people from Israel, Austria, Australia, Britain, the United States, Belgium, Brazil, Hong Kong, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Panama, Chile, France, Columbia, Costa Rica, Canada, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
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