Tales of the Feasts
The Secret of the Dreidel


Drawing of a dreidel


Playing dreidel is a fun Chanukah game. Everybody puts a piece of Hanukkah gelt in the Dreidel pot. Take turns spinning the dreidel. If the dreidel lands on the letter Nun, you get None. If it lands on the letter Gimel, you Get All. If it lands on Heh, you get Half. If it lands on Shin, you need to Share by putting one more piece in the dreidel pot.

The Letter Nun. Sorry! You take None.

The Letter Gimmel. Great! You Get all.

The Letter Heh. Hey! You take Half.

The Letter Shin. Share and put one in.

What's the Secret?

In some Chanukah legends, the dreidel game was really a secret way to study Torah! Because the evil king Atniochus made a law against studying Torah, the men would gather around a Torah scroll and study while one of the kids watched for soldiers. If soldiers came, the child would warn the men. They would quickly hide the scroll and take out driedels. The soldiers would think the Jews were only playing a silly game and never new that they were secretly studying Torah! That's the secret of the dreidel. Dreidels remind us of the privilege of learning Torah.

The letters on the dreidel stand for the words, "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham." That means, "A great miracle happened there." The miracle was the victory over the forces of the evil King Antiochus. Dreidels in Israel say something else. Can you guess what an Israeli Dreidel says?

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