Submitted by Hannah Feldfix on Tue, 08/06/2019 - 20:35
The lovely dreidel (Hebrew: סביבון sevivon) is a top with four sides, traditionally played and spun during Hanukkah. A Jewish version of the teetotum, a European gambling toy, the
dreidel has a Hebrew letter on each of its 4 sides.
On one side is the letter Nun נ , on the next, a Gimmel ג , then a Hei ה , and last but not least, the Shin ש or Pei פ (depending on whether it is made for Jews across the world, or Jews in Israel, respectively. The game is played with gold coins called gelt, which are actually chocolate covered in foil. In the game you gamble over these coins with the random element of the dreidel's spin. If it lands showing Nun, you get nothing (Nisht, in Yiddish). If it lands on Gimmel, you get all of the central pile of coins (gants is yiddish for all). Hei means you get half (halb in yiddish), and Shin (or pei) stands for Shtel Eyn in Yiddish, which means to put in your own coins. The letters also symbolize the words Nes Gadol Haya Sham/Po "A great miracle was there/here". Israeli dreidels have the Pei instead of the Shin to show that the miracle happened here in the Holy land of Israel.
A beautiful and fun piece of Judaica, spinning a dreidel is not a mitzvah or a commandment, but it is a lovely tradition. Many people collect dreidels, as they can be found in many shapes and designs.
