Wolfe: You spell it 'knaidel,' I spell it 'kneydl'

Growing up in the Arverne area of Rockaway Beach, I always knew how important it was to understand Yiddish. Even though my parents were American born, they both spoke it.

Yet I don't recall ever being asked how to spell the Yiddish word for matzo ball. Is it:

a) knaidel

b) kneidel

c) kneydl

d) knaydl

e) all of the above

The correct answer is e. Ver volt dos geglaibt? (Who would have believed it?)

Arvind Mahankali, an Indian-American eighth-grader from Bayside Hills, won the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee last week when he correctly spelled the German-Yiddish word "knaidel" -- even though it was reported that Arvind had never actually tasted one.

Had he gone with option b, c or d and lost the contest, there would have been an uproar. Yiddish lovers know there are four correct ways -- see above. The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research says the preferred historical spelling is "knedyl," but spelling bee officials said the contest accepts spellings from Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary.

When Arvind asked the pronouncer, Jacques Bailly, to use "knaidel" in a sentence, Bailly replied that a diner "hoped to find at least one more knaidel in his soup bowl, but all he discovered was his missing lower denture."

My mom would have disapproved. Her preference would have been: Oh, my knaidel, tsegait zich in moyl! (My knaidel melts in the mouth; it's delicious.)

In our home, the three R's were reading, writing and rugelach. We knew the difference between the schlemiel and the schlimazel -- both are losers, but it's the schlemielwho accidentally pours the soup on the schlimazel.

Next year, Scripps should include the Yiddish word "shviger" (mother-in-law). Mothers-in-law are universal targets of so much humor. And, as the denture crack reveals, there's room for that in the bee. So when the contestant asks the pronouncer to use the word in a sentence, what will we hear?

"The first man, Adam, lived as long as he did because he didn't have a 'shviger.' "