(JTA) — Astute viewers could find plenty of signs during the recent “Jeopardy!” Teachers Tournament that one leading contestant had some Jewish bona fides.
There was the fact that Meggie Kwait teaches at Beit Rabban Day School, a Jewish school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. There was her covered hair, rare among game-show contestants but more common among observant Jewish women. And then there was her bet for the final question on a day when she was so far ahead she couldn’t lose.
“Yes, I wagered $18,” Kwait told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. ”That was when all the Jews realized I was Jewish.”
Kwait, a humanities teacher who trained as a musician and spent some time in rabbinical school before landing in the classroom, was one of 14 contestants during the trivia show’s two-week tournament just for educators. She won two rounds to make it into the two-game final, where finished second to a music teacher from Michigan. The experience netted her $50,000 in prize money, bragging rights and, she says, new friends she anticipates keeping for life.
