The winner of this year’s spelling bee was the legendary “knaidel” (a.k.a. matzah ball). Thirteen-year-old Arvind Mahankali correctly spelled the Yiddish word for the small mass of dough to win the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Arvind was a finalist in the last two national spelling bees. In both 2011 and 2012, however, he was tripped up by German-derived words. This time, he conquered the German-derived-Yiddish knaidel.
When an Indian-American forms the word knaidel to win an English language contest, it’s a coming of age of sorts for the Yiddish language. We are all familiar with the entry of words like chutzpah into the American lexicon, but knaidel must have had a real upstream swim to make it. To be sure, the Yiddish language is facing significant challenges today. But the acceptance of Jewish words into mainstream lingo represents an accomplishment that few Jews of yesteryear could imagine.
***
In this week’s parsha of Shelach we discover that ten of the twelve scouts that were sent by the Jewish people into Israel came back with a negative report. The unfortunate developments that ensued caused the entry into the Holy Land to be delayed by almost forty years. Only two scouts – Yehoshua (Joshua) and Kalev (Caleb) returned with optimism.
***
Interestingly, the laws of kosher can shed a lot of light on the remarkable fortitude of Yehoshua and Kalev. Halacha mandates that an animal or bird from a kosher species must also be in good health to qualify for kosher ritual slaughter. If an animal suffers significant injury it is disqualified.
Rambam (Maimonides) discusses the case of a duck that fell into a river and was injured. He states that if the duck is flowing downstream, we must assume that it has suffered substantial injury and cannot be used for kosher consumption. However, if it is swimming against the current it is presumed healthy.
***
Jewish law does not only instruct us on the technicalities. It also offers deep insights into life’s challenges and struggles. Here, Judaism is teaching us the genuine sign of life. Going with the flow is easy. Going against the flow is difficult. But doing so may be the truest indication of life.
Kalev and Yehoshua recognized that they were the minority. But they refused to allow that to influence their behavior when it went against their principles. G-d had promised this land to His people, and they remained faithful to that mission. They were indeed fully “alive.”
***
We, too, often need to fight against the odds. Wearing a yarmulke in public may not come naturally. Politely declining non-kosher food is not always easy. Participating in Jewish social and religious events can be difficult.
We take our cue from Yehoshua and Kalev, who stood by their values in the face of hardship. And we take our cue from an Indian-American boy, who overcame his unfamiliarity with a foreign language.
Knaidel may have entered the English dictionary, but my Microsoft Word spell-check does not recognize it. It must have more upstream floating to do in my chicken soup. For that matter, I must have some more upstream swimming to take on.