Being that Chanukah 2017 falls over Finals Week at UAlbany, we’re going with a “Final-ly Chanukah” theme. This year we’re lighting a Test-Menorah on the Podium, with the branches of the Menorah decorated as different types of test questions: multiple choice, fill in the blank, true or false, and essay questions, see all the Test Menorah Chanukah Questions here.
When they say, “this is a test” they usually mean that its only a test and not the real thing. But in Chassidus it explains that all of life is a test! If so, tests are relevant beyond the classroom and long past your years in school. Let’s take a closer look at the types of tests you are taking now, perhaps they have some relevance to the tests of life?
FILL-IN-THE-BLANK: There can be all kinds of gaps in our knowledge. This is a test of how much we know or don’t know about something, perhaps an idea, or maybe about another person. The more we can fill-in-the-blanks, the better sense we can get about it or him/her. Too many blank gaps can lead us to fail this test.
MULTIPLE-CHOICE: As the name implies, this one is about choices. Often in life, we’re faced with multiple options. Making good decisions and choices isn’t always easy. This is a very important type of tests, because today’s choices are the basis for the choices we make tomorrow, one test flows from the one preceding it, the choices build on each other, and down the line it can get very layered and complex and even messy, so earlier choices make a huge difference.
TRUE OR FALSE: Here the options are more stark, it’s either right or wrong, and can’t be both. This type of test is black and white. The answer is simple, short and to the point. We’re talking Yes/No here, true or false. Clarity is the focus, this is all about being decisive. True and False are diametric opposites, there’s no ambiguity here.
ORDER: Sometimes all the options are correct, they are all true, but the test is to sort and prioritize, either in order of events or in order of importance. This can be a big life test, when people fail to properly prioritize and put things in their proper hierarchy, place and sequence.
ESSAY QUESTIONS: This isn’t about right or wrong, and while it can discuss options and choices, that’s not the test question here. Essay questions test your internalization of the issue, how you see it, how well you can articulate and express it in your own words. In life, this test is more about how we take it, how we see it, how we deal with it, than it is about the issue itself.
This week we read Parsha Vayeishev where we learn about how Jacob was tested with Joseph’s disappearance, and we learn how Joseph was tested with Mrs. Potiphar. You might say that Jacob was struggling with an essay question, while Joseph (in deciding whether to succumb to Mrs. Potifar or not) was dealing with a True/False test. Chanukah is coming up this week: In defying the Syrian-Greeks and standing up for their religion, the Maccabees took on a True/False test, but in strategizing in how to fight them it was a multiple-choice test, with many options on the table. Maccabees also had to deal with the test of fill-in-the-blanks, with many Jews of the time ignorant or distant from the values and beauty of Judaism which contributed to the rise of Hellenism.