The “DREIDEL” (Chanukah/Hanukkah)

We are in the season of  Ha Moed Chanukah (a.k.a Hanukkah) that is to say, in English: The Festival/Feast of Dedication & Lights.

Chanukah, the Festival during which The One and Only True Messiah, YAHUSHUA HA MASHIACH was conceived in HIS earthly mother’s (Myriam’s/Mary’s) womb. HE is the LIGHT of the world (YAHUchanan/John 1; 8).

 

SHALOM!

Chanukah is also the Festival that points to the Great Battle due to take place in the future at the end of the Great Tribulation- the Battle between LIGHT and Darkness!

There are various symbols that represent this festival, namely,

  • Oil (hence we eat a lot of oily foods)
  • LIGHT & darkness
  • The Numbers 8 and 9
  • Dreidel
  • Battle

 

On this page, we’re going to study more about the “dreidel.”

 

What is a dreidel?

A dreidel or dreidl (/ˈdreɪdəl/ DRAY-dəl; Yiddish: דרײדל‎, romanized: dreydl, plural: dreydlekh; Hebrew: סביבון‎, romanized: sevivon):

👉 is a four-sided spinning top, played during the Jewish holiday of Chanukah (Hanukkah).

👉 The dreidel is a Jewish variant on the teetotum, a gambling toy found in many European cultures.

👉 A dreidel has 4 sides with 4 different Hebrew letters with great significance. These letters were used to celebrate what happened in YAHrushalayim/Jerusalem, Israel during the reign of King Antiochus IV and Judah Maccabee. The letters were also used to study the TORAH privately and when in hiding when the Temple was desecrated.

The dreidel’s history with Jewish culture goes back to the ancient Greeks. The story states that, while the Greeks had outlawed the studying of the TORAH, faithful Jews would hide their activities from the Greeks by appearing to be playing with a spinning top instead.

 

“Dreidels have four Hebrew letters on them,” usually:

nun, gimmel, hey  shin.

These stand for the saying

‘Nes gadol haya sham,’

which means

“a great miracle occurred there.”

 

However, when the dreidel is actually used in Israel, it will often read:

“Nes gadol haya po,”

which means:

“a great miracle occurred here.” 

 

The traditional dreidel game is just a game of chance, but it can be fun, especially when played among a close group of family members or friends. You can play the game as long as you have at least two people, but the more there are, the more fun it often is.

 

Video: DREIDEL, DREIDEL, DREIDEL with Lyrics Hanukkah Children’s Song by The Learning Station

 

How to Play the Dreidel Game:

1. Everyone playing receives their ante or tokens of some kind that they can place in the betting pool. These tokens can be pennies, chocolate coins, nuts, raisins, etc. Some people play with matchsticks, and we guess you could play with just about anything you want, depending on how crazy you want to get.

2. Everyone spins to see who goes first with the highest spin winning. The hierarchy of spins goes in the order listed above: nun, gimel, hey, shin.

3. Once it is decided who will go first, everyone puts one token in the pot in the middle. Then, the first individual spins the dreidel.

4. If they get

Nun = Nothing happens. The next person must spin.

Gimel = The person gets the whole pot! Afterward, everyone must add one token back to the pot. 

Hey = The person gets half the pot. 

Shin = The person has to add one token to the pot. Bummer!

 

5. The game continues with each person trying their luck. If a person runs out of tokens, they are either out or they can ask someone else to loan them a game piece.

6. Play until one person gets all the tokens — or it just feels like time to stop.

 

While the dreidel spins, the letters disappear in a blur and are visible only when coming to a stop. The dreidel represents how we — immersed in the dizzying hustle bustle of daily routine — cannot see the miracles regularly happening all around. Only when we stop to reflect are our eyes opened to the miracles that were there the whole time.

 

 

Video: Sivivon Sov Sov Sov

 

Video; S’vivon Sov Sov Sov Lyrica in Hebrew + English