Hanukkah is here - break out the dreidels

[FUZO]

TweetIve never know what those letters mean or what the game meant.So I decided to post some info



Hanukkah is here - break out the dreidels



!Perhaps the second-most recognizable symbol of Hanukkah, the dreidel is an oft-misunderstood object.

Sure, the four-sided top - sometimes plastic, sometimes wood - is a source of merriment and song that accompanies the holiday, which begins today at sundown and concludes Monday, Dec. 29.

But what are the Hebrew letters on the sides? And how do they relate to the rules of the game, which are rooted in the Yiddish language? Even some Jews have trouble remembering, year to year.

"We're so removed from the languages, we can expect the meanings to be lost," said Rabbi Jonathan Kohn of Congregation Kneseth Israel in Elgin.


The symbolic letters

Each side of a dreidel features a different Hebrew letter. On most dreidels, the letters are nun, gimmel, hey and shin.

The letters represent the Hebrew saying, "Nes gadol haya sham," which translates in English to "A great miracle happened there." In Israel, however, the fourth letter is "peh," reflecting the slightly changed "Nes gadol haya po," or "A great miracle happened here."

Both sayings refer to the Hanukkah miracle, which Jews believe happened more than 2,000 years ago.

According to tradition, the Maccabees, having just defeated the Greeks in battle, found one undefiled jar of special oil for the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. But instead of it lasting for only one night, the oil lasted for eight.

The rules

At least two people are needed to play dreidel. All players begin with an equal number of tokens - candy, raisins, pennies, foil-wrapped chocolate coins or other small objects. Ten apiece is a good starting point.

At the beginning of each round, every player puts one token into the center of the playing area, much like a poker pot. Likewise, anytime the pot is empty or has only one piece left, every player should put one token into the pot.

Players take turns spinning the dreidel. Depending on what letter lands facing up, the player puts tokens into the middle or takes them from the pot.

Here's what the letters mean:

• Nun: Stands for the Yiddish word "nisht;" it means "nothing." The player takes no action.

• Gimmel: Stands for the Yiddish word "gantz;" it means "everything." The player gets all the tokens in the pot.

• Hey: Stands for the Yiddish word "halb," which means half. The player gets half the pot. If the pot contains an odd number of pieces, the player collects half plus one.

• Shin: Stands for the Yiddish word "shtel" and means put in. The player adds one token to the pot. On an Israeli dreidel, when the letter "peh" comes up, the player also pays one token.

The game ends when one player has all the tokens.

Miscellany

• If you don't own a dreidel but want to play, go to the Internet. Online dreidel games can be found at jewfaq.org/dreidel/index.htm and elsewhere on the Web.

• Dreidel generally is not played with real money. Some families who do play with money donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.

• Although Yiddish originated in Central and Eastern Europe, dreidel is played by Jews around the world.

• Ancient Greeks forbade Jews from studying the Torah, so they had to observe their faith secretly. When discovered and confronted, some Jews would produce dreidels and say they were merely gambling.