From October 29 to November 7, the International Competition on Jewish History and Tradition “From the Depth of the Ages” took place in Pavlodar (Kazakhstan). This was the fourth such competition. The aim of the organizators is to “motivate intellectually and develop young community members through in-depth study of Jewish history, culture, and tradition.” The “From the Depth of the Ages” project is implemented with the aid of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Thanks to the financial support of the project’s partners, valuable gifts and prizes for the winners had been bought.

Jewish youth from the communities of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia participated in the competition. The competition was traditionally split into three rounds. The first tour allowed over 200 people to try out their hand. The participants were split into three groups: younger (age 7-12), junior (13-17), and senior (18 and up).

To win the first round, one had to correctly answer 25 questions on the traditions and history of the Jewish people. The difficulty increased with each round. In the second round, the participants had to answer 5 questions according to age category over the course of an hour. They also had to write an essay on a topic they selected out of three proposed topics.

In the final round, the 32 participants answered one exam question and presented their creative work. The participants included members of Jewish communities from Almaty, Astana, Pavlodar, Karaganda, Petropavlovsk, Taraz, Ridder, Shymkent, Semey, Kokshetau, Bishkek, Omsk, and Novosibirsk. When evaluating the exam question, the jury took into account how full the participant’s answer was, their ability to analyze, originality, erudition, and how freely they expressed themselves.

The winners were named and awarded during the last day. First place winners received PCs, second place - e-book readers, and third place received photo cameras.

The winners in the youngest age group were David Mirkin (Bishkek) — third place, Bella Zotova (Omsk) — second place, and Daria Spitsyna (Semey) — first place. In the junior age group the winners were: Daerbayeva Elizaveta (Pavlodar) — third place, Druchinina Natalya (Petropavlovsk) — second place, Savva Milana (Almaty) — first place. In the senior group the winners were: Braslavsky Vlad (Karaganda) — third place, Lobchuk Vladimir (Karaganda) — second place, and Elico Chicovani (Almaty) — first place.

The prize winners were personally congratulated by President of the Mitzvah Association of Jewish Communities of Kazakhstan Council, EAJC Presidium member Alexander Baron.