the.com/dreidel
a four-sided gambling top that turned Hanukkah into the holiest casino in history
means a four-sided spinning top marked with Hebrew letters, spun in a children's game traditionally played during Hanukkah, with players winning or losing tokens based on which side lands face up.
from From Yiddish 'dreydl,' related to the verb 'dreyen,' meaning 'to turn' — itself a cousin of the German 'drehen' (to spin or rotate). The four Hebrew letters on its sides — nun, gimel, hey, shin — are said to stand for 'Nes Gadol Hayah Sham,' 'a great miracle happened there.' The popular story holds that Jews under persecution spun tops to disguise their Torah study as gambling — but historians note the game closely resembles an old European teetotum (a lettered gambling top), and the religious meaning was likely read into the letters afterward rather than the reverse.
- hidden code
- its letters spell a great miracle happened there
- the stakes
- played for chocolate coins called gelt
- german roots
- descended from a spinning top called teetotum
- nun means
- land on nun and you win nothing
- gimel rules
- spin gimel and take the entire pot
hanukkah dreidel game — traditional jewish spinning top game played during hanukkah festival, dating back centuries with hebrew letters nun, gimel, hei, shin on four sides
dreidel tournament new york — annual competitive dreidel spinning championship held in new york city with cash prizes for fastest spinners