How to play dreidel....

[phyncke]

Dreidel is essentially a gambling game. You spin the top and act according to the letter you get. I have found a pretty concise explanation and posted it here. People play with candy, pennies, or other kinds of things of little value. Hannukah gelt is something else they might play with too. That is chocolate money used specifically for Hanukkah.


How to Play Dreidel
Rules for the popular Hanukkah game
By Noam Zion

Reprinted with permission from A Different Light: The Hanukkah Book of Celebration published by the Shalom Hartman Institute and Devora Publishing.

The Hebrew word for dreidel is sevivon, which, as in Yiddish, means to turn around. Dreidels have four [Hebrew] letters on them, and they stand for the saying, “Nes Gadol Haya Sham,”meaning “a great miracle occurred there.” In Israel, instead of the fourth letter "shin," there is a "peh," which means the saying is “Nes Gadol Haya Po”--“a great miracle occurred here.”

Playing with the dreidel is a traditional Hanukkah game played in Jewish homes all over the world, and rules may vary. Here's how to play the basic dreidel game:

1.Any number of people can take part in this great game.

2.Each player begins the game with an equal number of game pieces (about 10-15) such as pennies, nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, matchsticks, etc.

3.At the beginning of each round, every participant puts one game piece into the center "pot." In addition, every time the pot is empty or has only one game piece left, every player should put one in the pot.

4.Every time it's your turn, spin the dreidel once. Depending on the outcome, you give or get game pieces from the pot:

a)Nun means "nisht"or "nothing" [in Yiddish]. The player does nothing.

b)Gimmel means "gantz"or "everything" [in Yiddish]. The player gets everything in the pot.

c)Hey means "halb"or "half" [in Yiddish]. The player gets half of the pot. (If there is an odd number of pieces in the pot, the player takes half of the total plus one).

d)Shin (outside of Israel) means "shtel" or "put in" [in Yiddish]. Peh (in Israel)means "pay." The player adds a game piece to the pot.

5.If you find that you have no game pieces left, you are either "out" or may ask a fellow player for a "loan."

From myjewishlearning.com.



And now for a little history of the dreidel. You know me...it is surprising where this originates given all the myths I have heard. So read on...


The Origin of the Dreidel
The well-known Hanukkah symbol has European roots.
By David Golinkin

Reprinted with permission of the author from A Different Light: The Hanukkah Book of Celebration published by the Shalom Hartman Institute and Devora Publishing.

Most of the laws of Hanukkah are related to the lighting of the menorah or hanukkiyah;however, in this article we shall describe some of the customs of Hanukkah. The main difference between laws and customs is that laws stem from rabbinic interpretations of the Torah and Talmud which then filter down to the Jewish people, while customs usually start with the people and filter up to the rabbis. Through customs, the Jewish people have shown their love for God and tradition and immeasurably enriched all aspects of Jewish observance.

RELATED RESOURCES
TOPICS
Hanukkah and assimilation
The Talmud and Jewish law

The dreidel or sevivon is perhaps the most famous custom associated with Hanukkah. Indeed, various rabbis have tried to find an integral connection between the dreidel and the Hanukkah story; the standard explanation is that the letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin, which appear on the dreidel in the Diaspora, stand for nes gadol haya sham--"a great miracle happened there,"while in Israel the dreidel says nun, gimmel, hey, pey, which means "a great miracle happened here."

One 19th century rabbi maintained that Jews played with the dreidel in order to fool the Greeks if they were caught studying Torah, which had been outlawed. Others figured out elaborate gematriot [numerological explanations based on the fact that every Hebrew letter has a numerical equivalent] and word plays for the letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin. For example, nun, gimmel, hey, shin in gematria equals 358, which is also the numerical equivalent of mashiach or Messiah!

Finally, the letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin are supposed to represent the four kingdoms which tried to destroy us [in ancient times]: N = Nebuchadnetzar = Babylon; H = Haman = Persia = Madai; G = Gog = Greece; and S = Seir = Rome.

As a matter of fact, all of these elaborate explanations were invented after the fact.

The dreidel game originally had nothing to do with Hanukkah; it has been played by various people in various languages for many centuries.

In England and Ireland there is a game called totum or teetotum that is especially popular at Christmastime. In English, this game is first mentioned as "totum" ca. 1500-1520. The name comes from the Latin "totum," which means "all." By 1720, the game was called T- totum or teetotum, and by 1801 the four letters already represented four words in English: T = Take all; H = Half; P = Put down; and N = Nothing.

Our Eastern European game of dreidel (including the letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin) is directly based on the German equivalent of the totum game: N = Nichts = nothing; G = Ganz = all; H = Halb = half; and S = Stell ein = put in. In German, the spinning top was called a "torrel" or "trundl," and in Yiddish it was called a "dreidel," a "fargl," a "varfl" [= something thrown], "shtel ein" [= put in], and "gor, gorin" [= all].

When Hebrew was revived as a spoken language, the dreidel was called, among other names, a sevivon, which is the one that caught on.

Thus the dreidel game represents an irony of Jewish history. In order to celebrate the holiday of Hanukkah, which celebrates our victory over cultural assimilation, we play the dreidel game, which is an excellent example of cultural assimilation! Of course, there is a world of difference between imitating non-Jewish games and worshipping idols, but the irony remains nonetheless.

Prof. David Golinkin is the president and rector of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and an ordained rabbi. He is the author of Responsa in a Moment and The Status of Women in Jewish Law, which can be ordered at the Schechter Institute’s website.

From myjewishlearning.com.


And finally...the Dreidel Song. Who could forget that. It is an annoying little ditty that all of us who went through childhood as Jews and to Hebrew School had to learn and sing. *cringe*

Just giving you the text here. No dreidel post is complete without it.


I have a little dreidel. I made it out of clay.
When it's dry and ready, with dreidel I shall play.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of clay.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, with dreidel I shall play.

It has a lovely body, with leg so short and thin.
When it gets all tired, it drops and then I win!
Driedel, dreidel, dreidel, with leg so short and thin.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, it drops and then I win!

My dreidel's always playful. It loves to dance and spin.
A happy game of dreidel, come play now let's begin.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, it loves to dance and spin.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel. Come play now let's begin.

I have a little dreidel. I made it out of clay.
When it's dry and ready, with dreidel I shall play.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of clay.
Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, with dreidel I shall play.

From wikipedia.com.