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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ariel Weizman want the defenders to do?

2. Who is Saul Ezer?

3. Why does Jacob Hausner think he has been cursed rather than blessed when he escapes death again?

4. How does the high command in Jerusalem learn of the location of the downed Concorde 02?

5. What does Jacob Hausner decide never to tell Miriam Bernstein?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Jacob Hausner think it is better for Miriam Bernstein to cry and howl when she is suffering pain and grief?

2. What does Naomi Haber do that leads to the death of Nathan Brin?

3. What lesson has Salem Hamadi learned as he watches the way Ahmed Rish deals with the young Ashbals?

4. How does the guard recognize that Benjamin Dobkin is not an Ashbal?

5. How does Yigael Tekoah become a hero?

6. Why does the Prime Minister decide to ask the Americans to do the air reconnaissance mission over Iraq?

7. What is Peter Kahn's biggest concern throughout the ordeal?

8. Why does Ahmed Rish have to wash his face and hands after his interrogation of Deborah Gideon?

9. What does Major Bartok find surprising about Nathan Burg's report of the incident?

10. Why do Jacob Hausner and Nathan Burg conclude that the conduct of a war is too important to be left to politicians?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The quotation of scriptural prophecies create the impression that DeMille wants readers to see the characters in this story as part of Biblical prophecy. In your essay, analyze whether these characters see themselves as part of a long history or as isolated participants in a single event, alone and unsupported in the larger world. Use quotations from the story to substantiate your opinion.

Essay Topic 2

The setting is critical to this story. In your essay, outline the cultural and political setting in which the characters find themselves. Consider the contrast between the tourists who will come later in the year to visit the site of the ancient Babylonian captivity and the characters who are themselves actually captive there.

Essay Topic 3

The Diaspora - the scattering of captive Jews throughout different lands as a result of captivity - has a strong effect on Jews in Israel as well as on those who are themselves scattered. In your essay, discuss the effect on this story of the Jews in the Iraqi Ummah.

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