Amos Harm, 30-year-old employee of the Jerusalem Institute for the Blind, representing Israel, and Miss Irene Santos of Brazil were the leaders today in the preliminary round of the world finals of the International Bible Quiz in the open air amphitheater of the Hebrew University.
Fifteen contestants from 14 countries faced a jury composed of Jewish, Protestant and Catholic experts. The contestants, many of whom quickly demonstrated that they knew by heart almost the entire Bible, included six women. The finalists were winners of national Bible quiz contests organized by the radio and television networks of their respective countries in cooperation with the Israel Radio and the Tenth Anniversary Celebration Committee.
The American contestant is Mrs. Mystelle Davis, 49, wife of a Beauford, Georgia farmer and grandmother of five, who won the Bible quiz on the $64,000 Question television program. The contest was expected to continue through midnight Tuesday when the international champion will be chosen on the basis of the largest number of points for correct answers to Biblical questions.
Three hundred police were assigned to keep order and eight plainclothes men were on duty guarding the 14 interpreters working out translations in eight languages behind locked doors for questions which they received in sealed envelopes.
The 2,400 spectators included members of the Israel Cabinet and Knesset, diplomats, heads of religious communities and other dignitaries. Television and film cameras of the world press were focussed on the contestants, some of whom expressed disappointment on arrival when they learned that questions were restricted to the Jewish Scriptures. Some contended they had not been informed about this limitation which, it was understood, had been made mainly to avoid complaints from ultra-Orthodox sources in Israel.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
