It’s Yiddish for the win at the Scripps National Spelling Bee!

OK, not quite, but earlier today, when the first rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals kicked off, the word “Yiddishkeit” nearly stumped contestant no. 5, Rishik Gandshari from San Jose, California.

The 7th grader didn’t quite know what to make of the quintessentially Jewish word, which the contest defined as “a Jewish way of life.” After asking what the language of origin of the word was, and receiving the answer “Yiddish,” Rishik chuckled nervously: “I don’t know what I expected.” (He’s smart and funny!)

On Twitter, avid Bee watchers (you know who you are!) were also stunned by the challenging first word, which, let’s face it, not many 12-year-olds, Jewish or otherwise, are familiar with.

"Yiddishkeit. Can I have the language of origin?" "It's from Yiddish." "I don't know what I expected…"#SpellingBee pic.twitter.com/un1GEUjcOF — Jewish Tweets (@JewishTweets) May 30, 2019

First word this morning was “Yiddishkeit” It would have taken me out the game! 🤣 #SpellingBee @espn — Tivika L. Reed (@TivikaReed) May 30, 2019

I was warned that it gets tougher. The first word this morning: "Yiddishkeit"

🤯 #SpellingBee — Elizabeth Crisp (@elizabethcrisp) May 30, 2019

But Rishik is a spelling bee veteran and a total pro — he made it all the way to the 6th round at last year’s Bee, and was very valiant about being eliminated. What a mensch! (Hey, spelling bee runner-people, maybe that’s a good word for next year?) Despite his initial hesitation, he managed to spell Yiddishkeit perfectly, and ascend to the next round.

Twitter, of course, was very impressed (as were we):

This stone-faced assassin just nailed "Yiddishkeit" on the Spelling Bee. — NBA Finals.. yay. (@skwamus) May 30, 2019

A little kid at the #NationalSpellingBee just spelled "yiddishkeit?" Who in their right mind knew that was even a WORD? It looks like a bunch of letters that someone threw together and called it a word. — Chad Smith (@agricaster) May 30, 2019

Bizarrely enough, later in the afternoon, Rishik was dealt another Jewish word, this time, a Hebrew one: During round 8, he also correctly spelled the word “keriah,” the traditional Jewish mourning ritual of tearing one’s clothes.

Rishik (who earlier today spelled Yiddishkeit correctly) just had the word keriah, the Jewish mourning practice of tearing one's clothes. To learn more about this tradition, see our #Jewish Treat on the topic. https://t.co/kz76QBY30E #SpellingBee — Jewish Tweets (@JewishTweets) May 30, 2019

This is quite an amazing feat because, according to FiveThirtyEight, Hebrew words have been the toughest words to spell at the competition, with more than half of them stumping contestants over the years. Looks like Rishik managed to avoid that fate!



Yiddish word helped propel a contestant to the next round: Enya Hubers, from Ontario, Canada, aced the spelling of “lekach,” the Ashkenazi honey cake served on Rosh Hashanah. What a sweet victory, and mazel tov to both of these young pros!