18 Jun DO THEY SEE OUR SOUNDS?

Every year, about 11
million children in the
United States

participate in school-
level spelling bees. The

most prestigious
competition is the
annual Scripps
National Bee that has been held since 1925.
The words have gotten progressively more
difficult over the decades as the competition
has stiffened. In 1940, the winning word was
“therapy,” whereas last year’s was
“psammophile.” (It means a plant or animal
that prefers or thrives in sandy areas, in case
you were not aware.)
Indian Americans comprise about 1% of the
U.S. population, yet for the last 20 years, they
have dominated the Scripps Spelling Bee.
Two weeks ago, a 12-year-old Floridian
named Bruhat Soma became the 29th (of 35)
Indian American champion since 1999. What
can explain this phenomenon? Are they on
spelling steroids? Are Indian American’s
brains wired to spell better than anyone else?
ְו ְכל־ָהָָעָ֩ם֩ ֹרִֹ֨א ַ �֨ים- ֶאֶת־ַה ַ ּקֹוֹ֜ל�֜ת ְו ְֶאֶת-־ַהַּלִּּפּיִ֗ד�֗ם
ְו ְֵאֵ֙ת֙ ֣קֹ֣ול ַ – ַה ֹּׁׁשָ֔פ֔ר ְו ְֶאֶת־ָהָ֖ה֖ר- ָעֵָׁ֑ש�֑ן ַוַַּ֤֤י ְְרא ָהָָעָ֙ם-֙
witnessed people the All “ַוַָּיֻּ֔נ�֔עּו ַֽוַַּֽיַעְַמ֖דּ֖ו ֵֽמ�ָֽרָֹֽח�ֽק׃
the thunder and lightning, the blare of the horn
and the mountain smoking; and when the
people saw it, they fell back and stood at a
distance.”
Matan Torah remains the most seminal event,
not only in Jewish history, but in all of history.
The Creator and Master of the Universe shared
His blueprint for creation, handed over His
manual for meaningful living, opened up His
personal diary that is the description of His
essence, and the world has never been the
same since. Empowered and inspired with the
tools of Torah, the Jewish people have
transformed the world in so many ways.
That event, that moment, was uniquely
momentous; yet, of all the miracles and
special moments, the Torah doesn’t mandate
that we commemorate it. Hashem took us out
of Egypt, and we have Pesach and a mitzvah
to tell the story, and to do so over matzah and
marror. He took us through the desert, and we
have a Yom Tov of Sukkos where we sit in
Sukkahs and remember the booths our
ancestors sat in, exposed to the elements,
under the Divine protection. On Chanukah
we light the Chanukah candles, and on Purim
we listen to the Megillah. And yet, this
greatest moment in our history has no mitzvah,
no ritual or ceremony, no commemoration?
Yes, the Torah does command us to celebrate
a Yom Tov 50 days after the second day of
Pesach, but nowhere does it mention that this
holiday commemorates the revelation at Har
Sinai,

In his Mishnas Rav Aharon, Rav Aharon
Kotler explains that the miracles of yetzias
mitzrayim were one-time events, parts of
history that need to be remembered, recalled
and commemorated so that we can come as
close as possible to imagining what it looked
like because it was so long ago. The same is
true for Sukkos, Chanukah, etc. However, the
revelation of Har Sinai doesn’t need
remembering or commemoration because it is
ongoing, it is still happening every day.
All over the world, every time a Jew opens a
sefer, attends a shiur, sits down with a
chavrusa, plays a Torah podcast, or engages
with Torah in any form—the conversation
continues, Hashem is still speaking to us. And
that is why 40 years after the Torah was given,
in Moshe’s soliloquy to the Jewish people,
reflecting back on their short history to that
point, he describes Matan Torah as גדול קול
יסף ולא. Kol gadol means a great sound, but
what does “lo yasaf” mean? Says Unkelus, לא
פסק, a great voice that hasn’t stopped. He is
still speaking, the conversation never ended.
Are we listening, are we participating?
When Rav Meir Shapiro zt”l, the founder of
the Daf Yomi, was seven years old, he found
his mother crying and he asked her why. She
explained that she was terribly sad because his
melamed was scheduled to come that day but
didn’t show up. The young boy didn’t
understand why that moved her to tears. She
explained, “You don’t understand Meir’l
because you are too young, but my son, I
want you to always remember, if you miss a
day of learning, it cannot be replaced, it
cannot be made up.”
Rav Meir Shapiro’s mother understood
something so fundamental, so basic and so
,כי הם חיינו ואורך ימינו – people our to core
Torah is not information, it is not a set of
facts, laws, it isn’t part of or commemorating
history. Torah learning is not just a way of
life, it is what provides life, sustains life and
nourishes life. Without it we simply cannot
live.
Rav Meir Shapiro’s mother’s tears left an
indelible impression and when the
opportunity presented itself, he introduced a
system and initiative which would ensure we
would never miss a day of learning in our
lives. It is estimated that today there are
more than 300,000 people around the world
who learn the Daf Yomi daily. Rav Meir
Shapiro and his wife didn’t have biological
children, but make no mistake, each blatt of
Gemara learned daily by Jews everywhere is
his continuity and legacy, each of the
devotees of the Daf his progeny.
Our Judaism must not be commemorative,
our commitment to Torah must not be a
casual connection because of a past. It must
be vibrant, dynamic, alive, passionate in the
present.
The Midrash tells us that when Hashem
He ,כפה עליהם הר כגגית ,Torah the gave
held it over our heads and said accept it or

קבורתכם תהא שם, there you will be buried.
Many ask, shouldn’t it say פה, here, not שם,
there? If Hashem is going to threaten us,
shouldn’t He get it right?
I believe, and we are sadly seeing empirically
all around us, that if you don’t feel the weight
of Torah over your head, the responsibility of
a deep, profound and passionate commitment
to it personally, you may not spiritually die in
that moment. Perhaps you can go a generation
or two. But שם, down the line, a few
generations in, it will catch up. If we negotiate
with our Yiddishkeit, if we pick and choose, if
we are casual about it, down the road it will
come crashing down on our head.
Do you know why Indian Americans children
dominate the Spelling Bee? As explained in
one of many articles exploring the
phenomenon, it is because Indian American
parents value and celebrate spelling well.
we Sinai Har At – ְו ְכל־ָהָָעָ֩ם֩ ֹרִֹ֨א ַ �֨ים- ֶאֶת־ַהּקֹוֹ֜ל�֜ת
saw the sounds, we didn’t just hear
instructions, we saw a vibrant image of a
passionate inspired life. Indian American
children don’t just hear their parents talk about
spelling, they see the value of spelling, they
see themselves as spelling champions and
then they become that. For them it is more
than just a competition, it is a true and genuine
mission.
What do our children see? What are we
celebrating for our children, for our family, for
ourselves? Are we celebrating the things and
accomplishments that we truly value? Here is
why that question is critical: Because
whatever you celebrate, that’s what you’ll
value and that is what you children will value
and sacrifice for.
Indian Americans celebrate spelling and they
have therefore dominated the Spelling Bee.
L’havdil, Rav Meir Shapiro’s mother
celebrated Torah learning every day and she
had a son who introduced the world to the
most popular program of daily Torah learning
in history. What do you celebrate, what does
your family hear you talk about, see you care
about, watch you invested in?
Israel’s war against her enemies and the rise
of antisemitism have posed formidable
challenges but they also bring an opportunity.
How we react, what we are doing about it,
how focused we are on the fate of our people,
can and will leave an indelible and enduring
impression on our children and grandchildren.
If we want our families to be passionate,
practicing, and proud Jews, living and learning
Torah and loving Israel when they are שם,
ֹ,רִֹ֨א ַ �֨ים ֶאֶת־ַהּקֹוֹ֜ל�֜ת to need they ,road the down
not only hear, but see our voices in action now.