Raanan Israel was host to the Rubik’s cube championships, with a new Israeli record being set by Eyal Alfassi, 18, of Modiin. Eyal solved the cube in under 17 seconds with just one hand.

Hundreds of participants showed up in an attempt to break the record. This year also saw a larger rise in the number of Haredi participants, following a heter permitting dice games on Shabbat, said the events planner, Lilah Friedman.

“I have learned methods from the internet on how to arrange the cubes. You have to remember algorithms and have nimble hands. From there, anything is possible. I can see the level of these kids in the competition, and I can say that I am concerned that one of them is going to take the title from me.”  said Alfassi

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There was a very tense moment, when 10-year-old Adam Sagy, who competed in the pyramid cube competition, managed to break the old Israeli record of 4.3 seconds, stopping the clock after 3.6 seconds.But the judges disqualified him because he didn’t rest his hand on the clock, which is one of the rules.  When Sagy realized his mistake he burst out into tears and had to be consoled by his parents.