As Hate Rises, Young Scholars Take the Stage—and Redefine the Jewish Response
On Sunday afternoon, 63 finalists from 26 countries competed in the 2025 JewQ International Torah Championship, the culminating event of a global program that reached 4,000 Jewish children from 250 communities. Most came from public schools. Many are the only Jewish students in their class. And in a year when Jewish kids around the world have faced increased isolation and hate, this moment offered something rare: strength, camaraderie, and pride.
“This year’s experience has left our hearts overflowing,” said Maya Mardechayev, whose 10-year-old son Uriel won the 4th-grade championship trophy. “Today, I witnessed my flower Uriel bloom on stage… It’s a mix of pure pride, joy, and awe.”
Uriel, a student at PS 254 in Brooklyn and a participant in the Chabad Hebrew School of Sheepshead Bay, directed by Rabbi Moishe and Chayale Teitelbaum, studied for months with his sister Daniella. “I feel fantastic!” he said. “The effort I invested in JewQ was truly rewarding… I have to give special credit to my amazing sister, Daniella, who studied with me and pushed me every day. I think she deserved it just as much as I did!”
Launched by CKids International at Merkos 302, JewQ is the flagship project of the largest network of Jewish kids, with 125,000 students in 700 communities. The championship unfolded during the CKids Shabbaton, where over 1,000 gathered at the global summit of Hebrew school families, bringing together young scholars who had studied on their own, often after school and without classmates to review with.
“The goal,” said Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, Chairman of CKids International, “is about giving children something lasting to carry home. When you instill a deep sense of belonging in a child, it shapes how they see themselves in the world. These kids may be the only Jewish students in their school, but they go back stronger—grounded in their heritage and empowered by it.”
“Back home, no one else knows what Shema is or why I don’t use my phone on certain days,” said Giuliana Aguilar Wolfman, a 6th-grade finalist from Buenos Aires who studied at Jabad Lubavitch Villa Crespo under the direction of Rabbi Mendi Birman. “Sometimes, it felt like I was the only kid in Buenos Aires studying Torah… But then I started competing in JewQ and now it’s the first time I’ll be in a place where I don’t feel different—I feel like I fit.”
Her mother, Geraldine, added: “In Buenos Aires, it’s easy to feel like being Jewish is something we just do at home. JewQ changed that for my daughter. She learned the why. And this weekend – traveling 5,300 miles to be with other children who studied the same Torah, who kept the same mitzvot it gives her something we couldn’t give her here: a sense of Jewish pride that isn’t quiet. It’s joyful, and it’s shared.”
“Watching all these kids compete like this—I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder,” said Chayale Teitelbaum, co-director of Chabad of Sheepshead Bay Hebrew School. “Uriel didn’t just win a trophy. He lit up the room.”
From Lisbon, Ella Shenhav—whose family attends Chabad of Cascais, led by Rabbi Eli and Raizel Rosenfeld, described what it meant to see her son Noam take home a gold medal. “When we moved to Portugal, I told my husband we had to live near Chabad. Now I see why. Noam’s part of something global.”
The students had spent months mastering the CKids Living Jewish curriculum. Each grade focused on a different topic—third grade on blessings and prayers, fourth on mitzvot, fifth on the Jewish calendar, sixth on Jewish lifecycle, and seventh on Jewish heroes. Hosted by Rabbi Dovid Weinbaum of DW Productions, they competed in rounds that tested memory, speed, and depth—from visual ‘Spot It’ challenges to fast-paced buzzer battles. In a dramatic finale, returning champions faced off in a special All-Star Round, drawing from all four years of material, impressing the judges with their mastery of the material.
JewQ, inspired by the Rebbe’s belief that every child can be a leader today, not only tomorrow, and that a child’s excitement and competitive drive can be channeled to uplift others, transformed quiet hours of after-school learning into a high-stakes, global celebration—where kids who throughout the year studied alone stood on stage, cheered on by peers watching around the world, united by their shared knowledge and pride.
At the emotional peak of the afternoon, the championship paused to honor Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky OB”M, spearheader of the JewQ and CKids movement, who passed away this year. The tribute was followed by the presentation of this year’s JewQ’s Ultimate Champions:
Champions were crowned across every grade, each representing both their public school and their Chabad Hebrew School:
Grade 3: Joshua Stepansky of PS 236, and Mill Basin Hebrew School at Chabad of Mill Basin, Brooklyn, NY.
Grade 4: Uriel Mardechayev of PS 254, and Chabad Hebrew School of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NY.
Grade 5: Lev Fogelson of Chabad of Palm Beach Gardens Hebrew School, FL.
Grade 6 Tied: Jack Starr of Charter Middle School, and CKids of Rancho Mirage, CA and Addison Steinberg of Forest Oak Middle School, and Chabad Olney Hebrew School, MD.
Grade 7: Joshua Vessal of Black Rock Middle School, and Chabad of the Main Line Hebrew School, PA.
And while medals were distributed, it was the intangibles—self-worth, Jewish pride, connection—that felt like the real victory.
Photos Itzik Roitman
