Happy Hanukah: Do the Dreidel!
A dreidel (or sevivon in Hebrew) is
the essential piece of a game which is commonly played by Jewish children
on Hanukah. The dreidel is a four sided spinning top, with a different
Hebrew letter on each side.
The exact origin of the dreidel game
is uncertain; some scholars maintain that the game goes back to the era
of Greek-Syrians, at which time Jews were prohibited from studying Torah
(the most important document in Judaism which is revered as the inspired
work of God). It is said that the dreidel was used as a decoy to fool the
Syrians into thinking they were just playing a game, when in fact they
were studying in groups. This is the most popular story of origin, as it
is a reminder and celebration of religious freedom,
However, it's more likely that the
actual source of the dreidel game is European. Many spinning top gambling
games exist in various cultures throughout Europe, and it's likely the
dreidel game was an adaptation of another gambling game, such as the German
gambling game.
It is customary to play the dreidel
game after lighting the Hanukah menorah; the game can be played with two
or more participants, and normally takes place with all members of the
household present - young and old - which helps to unite the family and
strengthen Jewish identities.
The rules are simple; each player
receives an equal amount of chocolate
coins (known in Yiddish as 'gelt'). Then each player puts a token into
the pot in the centre of the table. Players then take turns at spinning
the dreidel and acting upon the result of the spin. The four possible outcomes
are:
Nun - player gets nothing; Gimel
(Jackpot) - player takes all the chocolate coins from the pot; Hay - player
takes half the coins from the pot; Shin - player must put one of their
chocolate coins into the pot. If a player runs out of chocolate coins,
they are out of the game and the winner is the person left with the most
tokens at the end.
Dreidels come in a variety of styles
and colours, for example wooden dreidels, Israeli-style dreidels, plastic
dreidels, dreidels that can be filled with chocolate, metallic dreidels
and even dreidels made out of pure chocolate!
But if you really want to experience
the true traditional dreidel game - you should make you own, just like
the dreidel song says: "Dreidel dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay,
and when it's dry and ready, oh dreidel I will play".
Article Source:
Amazines.Com
