Dreidel

A dreidel ( Trendl ( Yiddish ), draydel ( English spelling ), סביבון sewiwon (Hebrew ) ), also Dreidl, is a spinning top with four sides. It is not as often presumed a prayer roundabout, but a traditional toy which is rotated by Jewish children during the eight-day Hanukkah festival lights. Each side of Dreidels shows a different Hebrew letter: נ ( Nun), ג ( Gimel ), ה ( Hey ), ש ( Shin ). Instead of the letter shin is found in Israel, a פ (Pe ). They stand for the proposition:

  • נס גדול היה שם ( Nes gadol haya shame, " A great miracle happened there. " ) Or
  • נס גדול היה פה ( Nes gadol haya po, " A great miracle happened here. " )

Emergence of Dreidels

According to legend, the Seleucids prohibited during their reign over Israel in the second century BC the Jews the teaching and learning of Torah. The exercise of the Jewish faith was punishable by imprisonment or death. The believer remaining Jews kept their children despite the ban to the study of religious traditions. Appeared Syrian patrols, the children had to quickly Dreidel at hand and acted as if they played it. It was said that they had only met to play. So the Dreidel contributed to the preservation of Judaism.

So much for the legend. In fact, the dreidel is much younger: In Dreidel a German children's from the 16th century lives on. The gyro was then called Toton, he wore the ( Latin ) letters P -N -J- F and A-R -J -F. In Pieter Brueghel's painting The Children's Games ( 1560) a girl holding a the bottom left Toton into the air.

The Dreidel Game

The game, which by that time the children played the legend with the Dreidel is played even today for Hanukkah mostly for sweets. Players take turns turning the dreidel. The page showing up, are on profit:

  • Now נ = ( jidd. indistinguishable ) - You do not win, but also lose nothing.
  • ג Gimel = ( jidd. gants ) - One gets the entire current cash, then each player must place a piece into the pot again.
  • ה He = ( jidd. half ) - You win half the cash (rounded up). Sometimes it is required that if only remains a piece that everyone has a reloading.
  • Shin ש = ( jidd. shtel ) - You have to put a piece in the checkout. Who can put anything more into the cash is eliminated.

The insert may be increased by a piece of gel to two. (see Take - Give gyro game )

Letters with spelling variants

Gimel

He

Shin

Pe

Children's Games (Bruegel) Seleucid Empire
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