A local sixth grader has been named the top Jewish scholar in her grade after becoming the Ultimate Champion at the 2025 JewQ International Torah Championship on March 30.
Addison Steinberg, from Montgomery Village, was one of 63 finalists from 26 countries and advanced from a pool of over 4,000 Jewish students in 250 communities who competed in regional competitions.
“Walking off that stage, I felt proud of everything I worked for,” Addison said in a press release announcing her victory. “This wasn’t just about winning — it was about standing tall as a Jewish girl, representing my ancestors and my community, and showing how much our heritage means to me.”
The structure of the event is similar to a spelling bee, and Jewish students from around the world attend a championship event and Shabbaton in Parsippany, New Jersey, to test their knowledge in front of a live audience.
The competition is run by CKids, the Chabad Children’s Network, and is “the centerpiece of the CKids Shabbaton, the largest global summit for Hebrew School families,” according to the press release.
Steinberg became the second straight winner from Maryland in as many years, joining 2024 winner Stella Tolin from Potomac.
Steinberg and Tolin became acquainted during the 2024 competition as the pair traveled to and from the event together, and Tolin’s stellar performance inspired Steinberg to go all out in preparing for this year’s competition.
“Addison really took a step back and said, ‘If Stella can do it, I can do that too.’ From that moment on, it was kind of like a heels dug in the ground, sense of determination, like I’m going to do this, and no matter what it takes, I’m going to do this,” said Jill Steinberg, Addison’s mother.
Steinberg said that she had gone on the stage in the previous year and that, while it was a bit frightening at first as a sixth grader in front of a large audience, she felt lucky to be taking part in everything.
This year, she was back and ready to face that challenge again, with the assistance of hundreds of hours of studying to remember important people, events, prayers and more throughout Jewish tradition.
Steinberg said she was spending around 20 hours per week preparing for the competition through curriculum books, flash cards and study at the Chabad Hebrew School of the Arts in Olney. Her heightened work ethic in the months preceding the competition was evident to her mother and teachers, including Devorah Stolik, the director of the Hebrew School at Chabad of Olney.
“Addison came in with fire from the first day of Hebrew School,” Stolik said in the press release. “She was determined, excited and totally focused. She saw herself achieving this — and she made it happen.”
Steinberg said that this was one of the first times in Addison’s life where she’s seen her daughter have such a sustained intense motivation to achieve a goal.
The months of studying and preparation for competition also deepened Steinberg’s knowledge of Jewish culture and tradition.
“It’s also sort of indescribable because we are sort of an outlier in society, because many people have shifted away from more traditional aspects of learning, and the way that they kind of connect and relate to their religion. No judgment [to those people], but we find a lot of comfort in staying aligned with tradition, because it just kind of gives our family some structure and parameters in life and helps guide us to make the best decisions available,” Jill Steinberg said.
Steinberg added that while Addison learned all the information about tradition, over time the knowledge became a central part of her identity. Addison can now pull lessons from the Torah and details she learned at religious school to inform her going forward.
And one of the unique aspects of this competition is the cultural exchange that happens with the kids and their families coming from around the world to compete as they intermingle during the shabbaton.
Steinberg said that she got to meet people from various countries like Canada, Israel and Russia, and that getting to interact with them was a cool experience.
With her win this year, Steinberg can still compete again next year, as the competition serves kids up to seventh grade.
Jill Steinberg said that Addison is potentially planning to compete in the “rapid fire” JewQ competition next year, which pulls from five grade levels worth of content and the entire study book, as opposed to one grade level worth of material.
For other young kids who might potentially be inspired by Steinberg and her work ethic, she gave some advice on what’s possible with hard effort and study.
“You can do anything if you just keep trying your best. Put your mind to it, you can do it, and you have to put aside things that you love to be able to do things that make you happy or proud of yourself,” she said.
