The Dreidel Story
The original Dreidel was a regular round top that was used in the time of the
Greek empire, where the story of Channuka takes place. The Greeks prohibited the
learning of the Torah/Bible. The kids would gather to learn but as soon as the
Greeks came, they would start to play with the Dreidels. Another story is
mentioned that the adults would use a Dreidel with letters and they would spin
and use the letters to represent the topic they were learning.
The modern day game of Dreidel
The letters on the dreidel are explained as follows:
Nun = Nes = Miracle
Gimmel = Gadol = Great
Hey = Hayah = Was [took place]
Shin = Sham [in the Diaspora] = There, Pey = Poh [in Israel] = Here
The traditional Dreidel uses the letter Shin because the origin of the game
came from Jewish communities in Europe.
Traditionally when spinning for Channuka Gelt
[usually chocolate shaped like a coin in a gold wrapper]
the letters apply as follows:
Letter Yiddish English Game
Nun Nisht Nothing The player gets/gives 'nothing'
Gimmel Gantz Gets all The player 'gets' the whole pot
Hey Halb Half The player gets 'half' of the pot
Shin Shtraff Penalty The player 'sends' the
amount of candy that is in the pot to the pot
Each player takes a turn spinning the dreidel and before he or she spins,
each player puts one candy in the pot.
Interesting Torah Observations
In our times, it's customary to mark the dreidel on four sides with the Hebrew letters gimmel,
shin, nun, heh. The week in which Chanukah falls we read the Torah [Bible]
portion of
VaYigash in which Ya'akov [Jacob] sends Yehuda [Judah] Goshnah [gimmel, shin,
nun,
heh - "to Goshen", the letters on the Dreidel] The Hebrew numerical
equivalent of Goshnah, the letters on the Dreidel is Mashiach
[the Messiah].
Chanukah and Purim, the dreidel and the grager [ra'ashan, noisemaker] are
used. There is a very interesting correlation between the two. When the
redemption and miracle of Chanukah took place, the events originated from
Heaven. Therefore the power used to turn the Dreidel originates from the top. On
Purim, after Haman's evil decree, the Jews were stirred to prayer and repentance
which then brought the redemption from Heaven, Therefore the Grager is turned
from the bottom which then causes the top to move and make noise.
